Nakasone Yasuhiro
(b. 1918), prime minister of Japan. Probably Japan's best-known politician internationally, Nakasone Yasuhiro was prime minister from November 1982 until November 1987. Most famous for his nationalist and neoconservative views, Nakasone formed a close friendship with foreign leaders, in particular Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, sharing their interest in privatization and small government. As prime minister, Nakasone sought to strengthen the U.S.-Japan security relationship and Japan's role in it, both politically and militarily, at one point proclaiming Japan to be an "unsinkable aircraft carrier."
Nakasone was born in May 1918 in Gunma Prefecture, the second son of six children. Graduating from the political science department of Tokyo Imperial University in 1941, Nakasone entered the Ministry of Home Affairs that April and shortly thereafter was assigned to the navy as a paymaster, serving in Taiwan and elsewhere.
After the war, Nakasone resigned from the ministry and was elected to the Diet in 1947 on the Democratic Party ticket. Nakasone ran on an anti–Allied Occupation policy platform. He believed that the reforms of occupational policy undermined traditional Japanese society. Since then, the high-profile Nakasone was elected in every election, despite the fact that his election district, which included a former and future prime minister, was considered one of the most competitive. Nakasone, who served in numerous cabinets and party positions, attempted to break many taboos while in office, such as revising the constitution, urging compulsory use of the Hinomaru flag and Kimi Ga Yo anthem in schools, and making official visits to the Yasukuni Shrine for war dead, angering in particular Korea and China.
Further Reading
Atsushi Kusano. (1995) "Nakasone Yasuhiro: Daitoryoteki Shusho no Menmoku" (Nakasone Yasuhiro: The Face of a Presidential-like Prime Minister). In Sengo Nihon no Saishotachi (The Prime Ministers of Postwar Japan), edited by Watanabe Akio. Tokyo: Chuo Koronsha.
Nakasone Yasuhiro. (1999) The Making of the New Japan: Reclaiming the Political Mainstream. Surrey, U.K.: Curzon Press.
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