Kakuei Tanaka | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
田中 角栄 | |||||
 Official portrait, 1972 | |||||
| Prime Minister of Japan | |||||
| In office 7 July 1972 – 9 December 1974 | |||||
| Monarch | Hirohito | ||||
| Deputy | Takeo Miki | ||||
| Preceded by | Eisaku Satō | ||||
| Succeeded by | Takeo Miki | ||||
| President of the Liberal Democratic Party | |||||
| In office 5 July 1972 – 4 December 1974 | |||||
| Vice President | Etsusaburo Shiina | ||||
| Secretary-General | |||||
| Preceded by | Eisaku Satō | ||||
| Succeeded by | Takeo Miki | ||||
| Minister of International Trade and Industry | |||||
| In office 5 July 1971 – 7 July 1972 | |||||
| Prime Minister | Eisaku Satō | ||||
| Preceded by | Kiichi Miyazawa | ||||
| Succeeded by | Yasuhiro Nakasone | ||||
| Minister of Finance | |||||
| In office 18 July 1962 – 3 June 1965 | |||||
| Prime Minister | Hayato Ikeda Eisaku Satō | ||||
| Preceded by | Mikio Mizuta | ||||
| Succeeded by | Takeo Fukuda | ||||
| Minister of Posts and Telecommunications | |||||
| In office 10 July 1957 – 12 June 1958 | |||||
| Prime Minister | Nobusuke Kishi | ||||
| Preceded by | Taro Hirai | ||||
| Succeeded by | Yutaka Terao | ||||
| Member of the House of Representatives | |||||
| In office 25 April 1947 – 18 February 1990 | |||||
| Constituency | Niigata 3rd | ||||
| Personal details | |||||
| Born | 4 May 1918 Kariwa, Niigata, Japan | ||||
| Died | 16 December 1993 (aged 75) Tokyo, Japan | ||||
| Political party | Liberal Democratic Party (1955–1993) | ||||
| Other political affiliations | Democratic Party (1947) Dōshi Club (1947–1948) Democratic Liberal Party (1948–1950) Liberal Party (1950–1955) | ||||
| Spouse | Hana Sakamoto | ||||
| Children | Masanori Tanaka (by Hana Sakamoto, died age 4) Makiko Tanaka (by Hana Sakamoto) Kyo Tanaka (by Tsuji Wako) Hitoshi Tanaka (by Tsuji Wako) Atsuko Sato (by Akiko Sato) | ||||
| Signature |  | ||||
| Military career | |||||
| Allegiance |  Japan | ||||
| Service |  Imperial Japanese Army | ||||
| Years of service | 1939–1941 | ||||
| Rank | Superior Private | ||||
| Battles / wars | Second Sino-Japanese War Second World War | ||||
| Japanese name | |||||
| Shinjitai | 田中 角栄 | ||||
| Kyūjitai | 田中 角榮 | ||||
| Kana | たなか かくえい | ||||
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Kakuei Tanaka (田中 角栄, Tanaka Kakuei, 4 May 1918 – 16 December 1993) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1972 to 1974. He served in the House of Representatives from 1947 to 1990. As prime minister, Tanaka advocated large-scale infrastructure development and oversaw the normalization of diplomatic relations with China. Afterwards, he was arrested in connection to the Lockheed bribery scandals, but nevertheless exercised a dominant influence on Japanese politics until suffering a stroke in 1985.
Born in rural Niigata Prefecture, Tanaka grew up under poor circumstances and received little formal education. As a young man he worked in the construction industry, becoming the president of his own construction company at a young age. He made a fortune from government contracts during the Pacific War. After the war, Tanaka went into politics and became noted for his earthy and tenacious political style. Becoming a member of the Liberal Democratic Party when it was founded in 1955, Tanaka successively served as minister of posts and telecommunications, chairman of the LDP Policy Research Council, minister of finance, secretary general of the LDP and minister of international trade and industry.
After a power struggle with Takeo Fukuda, he became prime minister in 1972. Diplomatically, he pursued negotiations leading to the Japan–China Joint Communiqué. Domestically he pursued his "Plan to Remodel the Japanese Archipelago," an infrastructure development program, but his standing was hurt by the 1973 oil crisis. He resigned amidst allegations of corruption in 1974. Two years later, Tanaka was implicated in the Lockheed bribery scandals, which led to his arrest and trial; he was found guilty by two lower courts, but his case remained open before the Supreme Court until his death. Throughout his legal problems, he maintained influence through his faction, the largest faction in the LDP, and was able to serve as kingmaker for subsequent prime ministers, which led to him being called "Shadow Shōgun" (闇将軍, Yami-shōgun). A debilitating stroke he suffered in 1985 led to the collapse of his political faction, with most members regrouping under the leadership of Noboru Takeshita in 1987.
He was nicknamed Kaku-san (角さん, Mr. Kaku)[1] and was known as the "modern taiko" (今太閤, ima taiko) and "Shadow Shōgun" (闇将軍, Yami-shōgun).[2][3] His politico-economic direction is called the construction state (土建国家, Doken Kokka).[4] He was strongly identified with the construction industry but never served as construction minister.[3] His daughter Makiko Tanaka and son-in-law Naoki Tanaka were also prominent politicians.
- ^ "The World: Tanaka: Prisoner of 'Money Power'". Time. New York. 9 August 1976. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
- ^ "Japan: Dark Day for the Shadow Shogun". Time. New York. 24 October 1983. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
- ^ a b Sterngold, James (17 December 1993). "Kakuei Tanaka, 75, Ex-Premier and Political Force in Japan, Dies". New York Times. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
- ^ McCormack, Gavan. "Koizumi's Kingdom of Illusion". The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus.
Under Tanaka and his successors, "the doken kokka spread a web of power and corruption throughout the country....