Kishi Nobusuke

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(1896–1987), prime minister of Japan. Born in Yamaguchi prefecture in November 1896 to the Sato family, Kishi was the second male in a family of ten children. During his teenage years, he was adopted into the family of his father's older brother in order to marry his cousin Yoshiko. Subsequently he took the family name Kishi.

Kishi attended Tokyo Imperial University and was offered a position on the law faculty upon graduating in 1920, but he entered the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce instead. After assignments in the United States, Europe, and China, Kishi became the minister of commerce and industry in Tojo Hideki's cabinet. For this he was purged from politics after World War II. Regaining his political rights in 1948, Kishi entered the Liberal Party in 1953 and later helped form the Democratic Party in 1954. He worked behind the scenes in a conservative merger that led to the formation of the Liberal Democratic Party in 1955.

He was elected the prime minister of Japan in February 1957 and held that post until his resignation in July 1960, following demonstrations in Tokyo against the revision of the United States–Japan Security Treaty earlier that year. In addition to securing the revision of this treaty in an effort to strengthen bilateral relations, Kishi visited some thirty countries during his time as prime minister, including two successful visits to Southeast Asia and Oceania, the first visit of a Japanese prime minister to this region. In addition, Kishi proposed the creation of an Asian Development Bank with $700 million in funds for Southeast Asian development, using U.S. funds and Japanese knowhow. The plan did not materialize due to a lack of interest on the part of the United States and Southeast Asian countries. Although Kishi resigned as prime minister in July 1960 and officially retired from politics in 1979, he exercised behind-the-scenes influence on Liberal Democratic Party politics until his death in 1987.

Hara Yoshihisa. (1995) Kishi Nobusuke: Kensei no Seijika (Kishi Nobusuke: The Ambitious Politician). Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.

Kishi Nobusuke. (1993) Kishi Nobusuke Kaikoroku: Hoshu Godo to Anpo Kaitei (The Memoirs of Kishi Nobusuke: Conservative Merger and Security Treaty Revision). Tokyo: Kosaido Shuppan.