Takeo Miki (三木 武夫 Miki Takeo March 17,1907–November 4,1988) was a Japanese politician and the 66th Prime Minister of Japan. Born in Tokushima Prefecture, Miki graduated from the Meiji University. He was elected to the Diet in 1937 and remained there until at least 1984. He took over from Kakuei Tanaka as Prime Minister on December 9,1974, following the latter's implication in the Lockheed bribery scandals. Miki attempted to reform the LDP and made a large number of enemies within the party. Despite his personal popularity with the public, the Lockheed scandal reflected poorly on the party, which lost its overall majority in the 1976 election to the Diet and had to make deals with minor parties to remain in power. Embarrassed by the result, Miki resigned and was succeeded on December 24, 1976, by Takeo Fukuda. In Mao Zedong's final days, he took a great interest in Miki's political condition, as Miki was suffering a coup d'etat from amongst his own party. Mao had never shown any interest in Miki before, or even mentioned him. He held many other posts during his career in addition to being prime minister.
Connection to Seattle
To commemorate the ties of Japan to America, and Seattle in particular, Miki gave 1,000 cherry trees to Seattle to commemorate the United States Bicentennial in 1976. This gift birthed the Seattle Cherry Blossom Festival, still running annually.
Slang Term
In Hong Kong, the name "Takeo Miki" (三木武夫) is sometimes used to describe actors or actresses with wooden or no emotional expressions during movies or TV dramas. Some have said that the origin for the slang term stems from Miki's wooden expression during his appearance in news reports about him. The article incorporates text from OpenHistory.
| Preceded by Etsusaburo Shiina |
Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan 1966–1968 |
Succeeded by Kiichi Aichi |
| Preceded by Kakuei Tanaka |
Prime Minister of Japan December 9, 1974–December 24, 1976 |
Succeeded by Takeo Fukuda |
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H. Itō · Kuroda · Sanjōi · Yamagata · Matsukata · H. Itō · Kurodaa · Matsukata · H. Itō · Ōkuma · Yamagata · H. Itō · Saionjia · Katsura · Saionji · Katsura · Saionji · Katsura · Yamamoto · Ōkuma · Terauchi · Hara · Uchidaa · Takahashi · To. Katō · Uchidaa · Yamamoto · Kiyoura · Ta. Katō · Wakatsuki · G. Tanaka · Hamaguchi · Shideharaa · Hamaguchi · Wakatsuki · Inukai · Takahashia · Saitō · Okada · Gotōa · Okada · Hirota · Hayashi · Konoe · Hiranuma · N. Abe · Yonai · Konoe · Tojo · Koiso · K. Suzuki · Higashikuni · Shidehara · Yoshida · Katayama · Ashida · Yoshida · Hatoyama · Ishibashi · Kishia · Ishibashi · Kishi · Ikeda · Satō · K. Tanaka · Miki · T. Fukuda · Ōhira · M. Itōa · Z. Suzuki · Nakasone · Takeshita · Uno · Kaifu · Miyazawa · Hosokawa · Hata · Murayama · Hashimoto · Obuchi · Aokia · Obuchi · Mori · Koizumi · S. Abe · Y. Fukuda |
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