Ryutaro Hashimoto
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Ryutaro Hashimoto (橋本龍太郎 Hashimoto Ryūtarō, born July 29, 1937) is a Japanese politician who served as the 82nd and 83rd Prime Minister of Japan from January 11, 1996 to July 30, 1998. He was the leader of one of the largest factions within the ruling LDP through most of the 1990s and remained a powerful back-room player in Japanese politics until scandal forced him to resign his leadership position in 2004. Disgraced, he chose not to stand in the General Election of 2005, and has effectively retired from politics.
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Early political life
He was born in Soja city, Okayama Prefecture. His father, Ryogo Hashimoto, was a cabinet minister under Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi. Following his father's lead, Ryutaro received his degree in political science from Keio University in 1960, and was elected to the House of Representatives of Japan in 1963.
He moved through the ranks of the Liberal Democratic Party over the next twenty years, landing a spot as Minister of Health and Welfare under premier Masayoshi Ohira in 1978, and in 1980 became the LDP's director of finance and public administration. He again became a cabinet minister in 1986 under Yasuhiro Nakasone, and in 1989 became secretary general of the LDP, the highest rank short of prime minister.
Hashimoto become a key figure in the strong LDP faction founded by Kakuei Tanaka in the 1970s, which later fell into the hands of Noboru Takeshita, who then was tainted by the Recruit scandal of 1988. The LDP momentarily lost power following the collapse of the bubble economy, and in 1991, the press discovered that one of Hashimoto's secretaries had been involved in an illegal financial dealing. Hashimoto retired as Minister of Finance, but was almost immediately brought back to the cabinet, this time under coalition premier Tomiichi Murayama as Minister of International Trade and Industry. As the chief of MITI, Hashimoto made himself known at meetings of APEC and at summit conferences.
Prime Minister
Image:Clinton Hashimoto 1996.jpg When Murayama stepped down in 1996, the LDP elected Hashimoto to become Japan's next prime minister.
Hashimoto's popularity was largely based on his attitude. Famously, when asked about why Japanese car dealerships didn't sell American cars, he answered, "Why doesn't IBM sell Fujitsu computers?" However, when Japan's economy didn't seem to be recovering from its 1991 collapse, Hashimoto ordered a commission of experts from the private sector to look into improving the Japanese market for foreign competition, and eventually opening it completely. This gave Hashimoto the political capital he needed to dissolve the Diet in 1996 and win re-election.
However, during the Upper House elections 1998, the LDP lost its majority. Hashimoto resigned to take responsibility for this failure, and was succeeded as Prime Minister by Foreign Minister Keizo Obuchi take over.
Later political life
Hashimoto remained in the upper echelons of the LDP and led his faction for several more years. In 2001, he was one of the main candidates in the running to replace Yoshiro Mori as prime minister, but he lost the primary election to the more popular Junichiro Koizumi.
Hashimoto's faction began to collapse late in 2003 while debating over whether to re-elect Koizumi. In 2004, Hashimoto stepped down as faction leader when he was found to have accepted a ¥100 million check from the Japan Dental Association, and announced that he would not run for re-election in his lower house district.
External links
Template:Japanese prime ministersfr:Ryūtarō Hashimoto ko:하시모토 류타로 it:Ryutaro Hashimoto ja:橋本龍太郎 pt:Ryutaro Hashimoto sv:Ryutaro Hashimoto wa:Ryutaro Hashimoto zh:橋本龍太郎