39 Facts About Yasuhiro Nakasone

Yasuhiro Nakasone was a Japanese politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1982 to 1987.

Yasuhiro Nakasone was born in Takasaki in Gunma, a prefecture northwest of Tokyo, on 27 May 1918.

Yasuhiro Nakasone was the second son of Nakasone Matsugoro II, a lumber dealer, and Nakamura Yuku.

Yasuhiro Nakasone had five siblings: an elder brother named Kichitaro, an elder sister named Shoko, a younger brother named Ryosuke and another younger brother and younger sister who both died in childhood.

Yasuhiro Nakasone's father, originally born Yasuhiro Nakasone Kanichi, settled in Takasaki in 1912 and established a timber business and lumberyard which had success as a result of the post-WWI building boom.

Yasuhiro Nakasone described his early childhood and youth as a happy one, and himself as a "quiet, easy-going child" nicknamed "Yat-chan".

Yasuhiro Nakasone 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.

Yasuhiro Nakasone entered Shizuoka Higher School in 1935, where he excelled in history and literature, and learned to speak fluent French.

Yasuhiro Nakasone developed the belief that personality should not be used as a means to achieve something, which contributed to his strong anti-communist and anti-Nazi views.

Yasuhiro Nakasone began working for the Home Ministry, which was as prestigious as the Ministry of Finance due to its extensive authority.

Yasuhiro Nakasone applied for the Navy's programme that allowed graduates from elite universities to serve as officers for two years without rising through the ranks.

Yasuhiro Nakasone married Tsutako Kobayashi, the daughter of geologist Giichiro Kobayashi, on 11 February 1945.

Yasuhiro Nakasone observed the growing prevalence of communism among the Japanese people, but the Civil Service was largely powerless to address it under the absolute authority of the Allied Occupation Forces.

Yasuhiro Nakasone stand in the 1949 general election as a Democratic Party candidate.

Yasuhiro Nakasone campaigned on a nationalist platform, arguing for an enlarged Self-Defence Force, to amend Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, and to revive Japanese patriotism, especially in reverence for the Emperor.

Yasuhiro Nakasone entered the Japanese Diet as a member of the House of Representatives for the Democratic Party.

The General angrily threw the letter in [the] bin, Yasuhiro Nakasone was later told.

In 1955, at Yasuhiro 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.

Yasuhiro 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.

Yasuhiro Nakasone was in favour of Japan having tactical nuclear weapons.

Yasuhiro Nakasone 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.

Yasuhiro Nakasone was best known for his close relationship with US President Ronald Reagan, popularly called the "Ron-Yasu" friendship.

Yasuhiro 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".

Yasuhiro Nakasone was attacked by political opponents as a reactionary and a "dangerous militarist".

Yasuhiro Nakasone responded by saying: "A nation must shed any sense of ignominy and move forward seeking glory".

In 1984, Yasuhiro 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.

Yasuhiro Nakasone visited President Corazon Aquino in a series of talks between the Philippines and Japan during a special state visit from 1986 to 1987, to provide good economic and trade relations.

Yasuhiro Nakasone privatized Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation and Japan Tobacco and Salt Public Corporation to create Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation and Japan Tobacco Inc.

In 1985, Yasuhiro Nakasone appointed the former Governor of the Bank of Japan, Haruo Maekawa, to head a commission on Japan's economic future.

Yasuhiro 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.

Yasuhiro Nakasone became known for having a nationalist attitude and for wanting to stimulate ethnic pride amongst the Japanese.

Yasuhiro Nakasone was an adherent to the nihonjinron theory that claims Japan is incomparably different from the rest of the world.

In 1986, Yasuhiro Nakasone dismissed his Education Minister, Masayuki Fujio, after he justified Japan's annexation of Korea in 1910.

Yasuhiro 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.

In 2003, despite a fight, Yasuhiro Nakasone was not given a place on the LDP's electoral list as the party, by then led by Jun'ichiro Koizumi, introduced an age limit of 73 years for candidates in the proportional representation blocks, ending his career as a member of the Diet.

In 2010, "aware of his status as one of the few leaders revered across Japan's suddenly fractured political landscape" and the country's "most revered elder statesman", Yasuhiro Nakasone launched a series of interviews to address the direction of prime minister Yukio Hatoyama's government.

Yasuhiro Nakasone's son, Hirofumi Yasuhiro Nakasone, is a member of the Diet; he has served as Minister of Education and as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Yasuhiro Nakasone's grandson, Yasutaka Nakasone, is a member of the House of Representatives.

Yasuhiro Nakasone died in Tokyo on 29 November 2019, at the age of 101 years and 186 days.