Yasuhiro Nakasone (中曽根 康弘 Nakasone
Yasuhiro, May 27, 1918 – November 29, 2019) was a Japanese politician who
served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party
from 1982 to 1987. He was a member of the House of Representatives for more
than 50 years. He was best known for pushing through the privatization of
state-owned companies, and for helping to revitalize Japanese nationalism
during and after his term as prime minister. He was the oldest living former
state leader at the time of his death in 2019, aged 101.
Nakasone described his early childhood
and youth as a happy one, and himself as a "quiet, easy-going child"
nicknamed "Yat-chan". He attended a local primary school in Takasaki
and was a poor student until the fourth grade, after which he excelled and was
at the top of his class. He entered Shizuoka High School in 1935, where he
excelled in history and literature, and learned to speak fluent French. In the
autumn of 1938, Nakasone entered Tokyo Imperial University. During World War
II, he was a commissioned officer and paymaster in the Imperial Japanese Navy.
He later wrote of his return to Tokyo in August 1945 after Japan's surrender:
"I stood vacantly amid the ruins of Tokyo, after discarding my officer's
short sword and removing the epaulettes of my uniform. As I looked around me, I
swore to resurrect my homeland from the ashes of defeat".
In 1947, he gave up a promising career
in an elite government ministry to run for Parliament with the belief that in
its postwar remorse, Japan was in danger of discarding its traditional values.
He campaigned on a nationalist platform, arguing for an enlarged Self-Defence
Force, to amend Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution (which outlawed war as a
means to settling international disputes), and to revive Japanese patriotism,
especially in reverence for the Emperor. He entered the Diet of Japan as a
member of the House of Representatives for the Democratic Party. "As a
freshman lawmaker in 1951, he delivered a 28-page letter to General MacArthur
criticising the occupation, a brazen move. The General angrily threw the letter
in [the] bin, Yasuhiro was later told. This stand established [Yasuhiro
Nakasone's] credentials as a right-wing politician." He gained brief
notoriety in 1952 for blaming Emperor Hirohito for Japan's defeat in the war.
In 1955, at Nakasone's urging, the government granted the equivalent of
$14,000,000 to the Agency for Industrial Science and Technology to begin nuclear
power research. Nakasone rose through the LDP's ranks, becoming Minister of
Science in 1959 under the government of Nobusuke Kishi, then Minister of
Transport in 1967, Director General of the Japan Defense Agency from 1970 to
1971, Minister of International Trade and Industry in 1972 and Minister of
Administration in 1981.
As the head of the Self-Defence Force,
Nakasone argued for an increase in defence spending from less than 1% GDP to 3%
of GDP. He was also in favour of Japan having tactical nuclear weapons. He was
labelled "the weathervane" in 1972 because he switched his support
from Takeo Fukuda to Kakuei Tanaka in the leadership election, ensuring
Tanaka's victory. In turn, Tanaka would give his powerful support to Nakasone
against Fukuda a decade later in the fight for the premiership.
Premiership
In 1982, Nakasone became prime minister.
Along with Minister of Foreign Affairs Shintaro Abe, Nakasone improved Japanese
relations with the USSR and the People's Republic of China. Nakasone was best
known for his close relationship with U.S. President Ronald Reagan, popularly
called the "Ron-Yasu" friendship. Nakasone sought a more equal
relationship with the United States, and said: "President Reagan is the
pitcher and I'm the catcher. When the pitcher gives the signs, I'll co-operate
unsparingly, but if he doesn't sometimes follow the catcher's signs, the game
can't be won". Nakasone said Japan would be "America's unsinkable
aircraft carrier" in the Pacific and that Japan would "keep complete
control of the four straits that go through to Japanese islands, to prevent the
passage of Soviet submarines". He was attacked by political opponents as a
reactionary and a "dangerous militarist". Nakasone responded by
saying: "A nation must shed any sense of ignominy and move forward seeking
glory". However his attempt to amend Article 9 failed.
In 1984, Nakasone visited China on the
twelfth anniversary of Japan's diplomatic recognition of the People's Republic,
for which the Chinese government arranged tours of China for 3,000 Japanese
youths. On the trip, Nakasone's son was privately accompanied by the daughter
of Hu Yaobang, the-then General Secretary of the Communist Party of China.
After the event, Hu was criticised by other members of the Chinese Communist
Party for the extravagance and warmth of the event. Nakasone also visited
President Corazon Aquino in a series of talks between the Philippines and Japan
during a special state visit from 1986–87, to provide good economic and trade
relations.
In economic affairs, Nakasone's most
notable policy was his privatisation initiative, which led to the breakup of Japan
National Railways into the modern Japan Railways Group. This led to 80,000
redundancies, unheard of in Japan until that point. Nakasone wrote of his
economic reforms:
I was carrying out a kind of "improvement"
of Japan's structure. For 110 years, ever since the Meiji restoration, Japan
had been striving to catch up with America and Britain. In the 1970s we did
catch up. Beyond that point the [state's] regulations only stand in the way of
the growth of the economy. If government officials have too much power, the
private sector of the economy will not grow. We had to change the system.
For the first time in Japan's post-war
history, bureaucrats lost their leading role. In 1985, Nakasone appointed the
former Governor of the Bank of Japan, Haruo Maekawa, to head a commission on
Japan's economic future. In 1986, the Commission recommended that Japan should
grow not through exports (which were angering Japan's trading partners) but from
within. Nakasone advised the Japanese public to purchase foreign imports; in a
well-publicised shopping trip, he bought an American tennis racket, an Italian
tie and a French shirt. He said: "Japan is like a mah-jong player who
always wins. Sooner or later the other players will decide that they do not
want to play with him". The Japanese public were skeptical but the
Commission created a good impression abroad, especially in America, where the Under
Secretary of State for Economic Affairs W. Allen Wallis called it a watershed
in Japan's post-war economic policy.
Nakasone also became known for having a nationalist
attitude and for wanting to stimulate ethnic pride amongst the Japanese. He was
an adherent to the nihonjinron theory that claims Japan is incomparably
different from the rest of the world. Influenced by Japanese philosopher Tetsuro
Watsuji, Nakasone believed that Japan's "monsoon culture" inspired a
special Japanese compassion, unlike the desert culture of the Middle East that
produced the Judeo-Christian "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a
tooth". In a speech in 1986, Nakasone said it was Japan's international
mission to spread the monsoon culture abroad.
On August 15, 1985, the fortieth
anniversary of Japan's surrender; Nakasone and his Cabinet visited the Yasukuni
Shrine in full mourning dress. This had great symbolic significance as he
visited the shrine in his official capacity and demonstrated that the Japanese
government was reasserting its respect for the spirits of the ancestors killed
in battle, including those who died in World War II. This was a controversial
move and was criticised by the Chinese Communist Party newspaper, People's
Daily. It was also attacked by opponents at home for violating the
Constitution's separation of religion and state. Nakasone defended his actions
by saying, "The true defence of Japan ... becomes possible only
through the combination of liberty-loving peoples who are equal to each
other ... The manner is desired to be based on self-determination of the
race". He also said, "It is considered progressive to criticise
pre-war Japan for its faults and defects, but I firmly oppose such a notion. A
nation is still a nation whether it wins or loses a war".
Nakasone also sought educational reform,
setting up a commission. Its report recommended that "a spirit of patriotism"
should be inculcated in children, along with respect for elders and authority.
This was not fully implemented and came under attack from the teachers' trade
union. The commission also recommended that the national anthem should be
taught and that the Rising Sun Flag should also be raised during entrance and
graduation ceremonies. History textbooks were also reformed. In 1986, Nakasone
dismissed his Education Minister, Masayuki Fujio, after he justified Japan's annexation
of Korea in 1910.
Nakasone
aroused controversy in September 1986 when he claimed that Americans were, on
average, less intelligent than Japanese because: "the US has many
immigrants, Puerto Ricans and Blacks, who bring the average level down".
He then clarified his comments, stating that he meant to congratulate the U.S.
on its economic success despite the presence of "problematic"
minorities.
In 1987, he
was forced to resign after he attempted to introduce a value added tax to
reduce the burden of direct taxes in a policy designed to cut the budget
deficit.
Later Political Life
Nakasone was replaced by Noboru
Takeshita in 1987, and was implicated, along with other LDP lawmakers, in the Recruit
scandal that broke the following year.
Although he remained in the Diet for
another decade and a half, his influence gradually waned. In 2003, despite a
fight, Nakasone was not given a place on the LDP's electoral list as the party,
by then led by Jun'ichirō Koizumi, introduced an age limit of 73 years for
candidates in the proportional representation blocks, ending his career as a
member of the Diet.
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