Noboru Takeshita | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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竹下 登 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Official portrait, 1987 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister of Japan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 6 November 1987 – 3 June 1989 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Deputy | Kiichi Miyazawa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Yasuhiro Nakasone | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Sōsuke Uno | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| President of the Liberal Democratic Party | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 31 October 1987 – 2 June 1989 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Secretary-General | Shintaro Abe | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Yasuhiro Nakasone | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Sōsuke Uno | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Member of theHouse of Representatives | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 22 May 1958 – 2 June 2000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Toshinaga Yamamoto | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Wataru Takeshita | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Constituency | Shimane at-large (1958–1996) Shimane 2nd (1996–2000) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of theShimane Prefectural Assembly | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 1951–1958 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1924-02-26)26 February 1924 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 19 June 2000(2000-06-19) (aged 76) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Party | Liberal Democratic | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Alma mater | Waseda University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Noboru Takeshita (竹下 登,Takeshita Noboru; 26 February 1924 – 19 June 2000) was a Japanese politician who served asprime minister of Japan from 1987 to 1989.
Born inShimane Prefecture, Takeshita attendedWaseda University and was drafted into the army during thePacific War. He was first elected to theNational Diet in 1958, and served as chief cabinet secretary in 1971–1972 and in 1974, and as finance minister from 1979–1980, 1982–1986, and in 1988, during which he signed thePlaza Accord in 1985. In 1987, Takeshita became head of theLiberal Democratic Party and succeededYasuhiro Nakasone as prime minister. He inherited the powerful LDP faction ofKakuei Tanaka, and was dubbed the "last shadow shogun" for his behind-the-scenes influence in politics.[1] Takeshita was forced to resign in 1989 after being implicated in theRecruit scandal, but continued to lead the largest LDP faction until his death in 2000. He was the last prime minister to serve during the rule ofEmperor Shōwa.[2]
Noboru Takeshita was born on 26 February 1924, in present-dayUnnan,Shimane Prefecture,[3] the only son of Yūzō Takeshita, asake brewer, and his first wife, Yuiko.[4] His family had been sake brewers for generations,[5] and Takeshita was the 20th head of the Takeshita brewing family.[6] Both his father Yūzō and his grandfather Gizō had been men of high repute in the region, and Takeshita followed in their footsteps and decided to become a politician when he was in junior high school.[7]
Takeshita attendedWaseda University inTokyo.[3]
He married Masae Takeuchi prior to joining theImperial Japanese Army to serve as an instructor duringWorld War II.[1] His wife committed suicide while he was away for the war, which author Jacob Schlesinger argued made Takeshita obsessive about his composure and highly reserved about showing anger to others.[4]
After the war, he remarried, to Naoko Endō, a distant relative, and worked as an English teacher and managed a high school judo team before entering politics in 1951.[1][4] As a young judo competitor, he was known as "master of the draw" for his ability to avoid easy victories over weaker opponents and to avert defeat by stronger opponents.[4]
Takeshita served as a local assemblyman inShimane Prefecture from 1951.[1] In the1958 general election he won a seat in theHouse of Representatives, joining the powerful faction ofKakuei Tanaka in theLiberal Democratic Party. He was elected at the same time asShin Kanemaru, and the two remained close allies through their respective political careers.[4] Takeshita eventually became Tanaka's primary fundraiser, traveling the country to garner support for the LDP's coffers. Like Tanaka, Takeshita was fond of "pork barrel" politics, retaining his own seat by bringing excessively hugepublic works projects to Shimane. Takeshita served aschief cabinet secretary from 1971 to 1974 and as minister of construction in 1976.
Takeshita was the minister of finance from 1979 to 1980, and he again accepted the finance position and was in office from 1982 to 1986. In this period, he achieved prominence as Japan's negotiator during deliberations which led to the agreement which is known as thePlaza Accord inNew York.[8] In the period Takeshita was finance minister, the Yen appreciated relative to other international currencies. The rise of the strong Yen (endaka) enhanced Japan's status as a financial powerhouse[9] and led to theJapanese asset price bubble of the 1980s.[1]
Kakuei Tanaka was arrested in connection with theLockheed bribery scandals in 1976 and found guilty by a lower court in 1983, placing pressure on his political strength. In February 1985, Takeshita formed a "study group" calledSoseikai, which counted among its ranks 43 of the 121 Tanaka faction members. Weeks after this defection, Tanaka suffered a stroke and became hospitalized, sparking further uncertainty over the future of his faction.[10] Tanaka never recovered from his stroke, and by July 1987, Takeshita's faction counted 113 of the 143 Tanaka faction members, while only thirteen supported Takeshita's rivalSusumu Nikaido.[11] The Tanaka faction members who moved to Takeshita's faction includedIchiro Ozawa,Tsutomu Hata,Ryutaro Hashimoto,Keizo Obuchi andKozo Watanabe.[12]
In July 1986, Takeshita left the Cabinet and was named to the key post of secretary general of the party.
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| Premiership of Noboru Takeshita 6 November 1987 – 3 June 1989 | |
| Monarchs |
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| Cabinet | Takeshita Cabinet |
| Party | Liberal Democratic |
| Seat | Naikaku Sōri Daijin Kantei |
| Constituency | Shimane at-large |
 Emblem of the Government of Japan | |
In November 1987, Takeshita became president of the LDP and was thus elected Prime Minister of Japan, replacingYasuhiro Nakasone. Among the highlights of the period in which Takeshita led the government, he acknowledged that Japan had been an aggressor during World War II. This statement was part of a speech in the Japanese Diet.[2] Takeshita attended the third annualASEAN summit inManila in December 1987 and formalised a $2 billion development fund package in order to help stimulate ASEAN economies, continuing previous efforts at enhancing Japanese relations with Southeast Asian countries.[13] Takeshita also pursued diplomacy in the rest of the world, including tours of several western nations as well as discussions fordebt forgiveness to developing countries. Takeshita's initial tenure was relatively comfortable due to steady success in the Japanese economy at the time, but soon his administration began to see some issues. The number of unskilled foreign workers (from areas such as the Philippines and Bangladesh) doubled between 1986 and 1988, and the American government passed into law theOmnibus Trade Bill, which threatened Japanese exports to the country. Moreover, despite Takeshita's diplomatic gestures,trade imbalance with bothWestern Europe andEast Asia continued to widen, leading to friction between the Japanese and foreign governments.[14]
Takeshita was mainly remembered within Japan for implementing the country's firstconsumption tax, which his government forced through the Diet in 1988 amid public opposition.[1] His government also passed legislation liberalizing the beef, citrus and rice markets, and passed an enhanced security pact with the United States, with the support ofShin Kanemaru who bought the opposition's support.[4]
TheRecruit scandal forced Takeshita to resign in 1989.[15]
The economic policies of him and his two successors are seen as part of theneoliberal cycle byPost keynesians.[16]
Although Takeshita was accused ofinsider trading andcorruption, he was never charged and was able to retain his seat in the Diet until shortly before his death.[1] He remained a major behind-the-scenes player in the LDP, mentoring future prime ministersSōsuke Uno,Toshiki Kaifu, andKeizō Obuchi.Tsutomu Hata andIchiro Ozawa left Takeshita's faction to form theJapan Renewal Party.Keizo Obuchi inherited what was left of the faction, supported the election ofRyutaro Hashimoto as prime minister, and himself became prime minister from 1999 to 2000; he died of a stroke in early 2000 and Hashimoto took over control of the faction.[17]
Takeshita himself died of respiratory failure in June 2000 after over a year in hospital, during which time he was said to have "masterminded" the coalition between the LDP andNew Komeito and to have arranged the election of Prime MinisterYoshiro Mori from his hospital bed. He had planned to retire from the Diet as of the2000 general election, which occurred just days after his death.[1]The Economist characterized his death as the end of an era that was "a dizzy mixture of brilliance and corruption" in Japanese politics.[4]
Hashimoto led the former Takeshita faction until refusing to stand in the2005 general election due to a fundraising scandal, and died shortly thereafter. The remnants of the faction, formally known by this time asHeisei Kenkyūkai (Heisei Research Council), remained active under the leadership ofYūji Tsushima, who resigned prior to the2009 general election, passing control toFukushiro Nukaga. The faction raised much less in donations during the 1990s and 2000s than it did under Tanaka and Takeshita in the 1980s, as electoral reforms enacted in 1994, coupled with new campaign finance regulations and the ongoing economic slump that followed theJapanese asset price bubble, weakened the power of factions in Japanese politics.[17]
Takeshita was twice married, and survived by three daughters (his only son, Rikidō, died one month after his birth in 1954) and several grandchildren,[4] including singerDaigo (formerly known as Daigo☆Stardust)[18] and manga artistEiki Eiki.[19][circular reference]
His younger half-brother,Wataru (1946–2021) was a reporter withNHK, who then began working for Noboru as an aide in 1985.[20] Wataru entered politics in 2000 and served as leader of his old Takeshita faction (now known as the Heisei Kenkyūkai faction) from 2018 until his death in September 2021.[21] Takeshita's two other younger half-siblings were Saburō (born 1948) and Sakae.
Media related toNoboru Takeshita at Wikimedia Commons
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Chief Cabinet Secretary 1971–1972 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chief Cabinet Secretary 1974 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Construction 1976 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Finance 1979–1980 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Finance 1982–1986 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Japan 1987–1989 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party 1986–1987 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | President of the Liberal Democratic Party 1987-1989 | Succeeded by |
| Empire of Japan (1868–1947) |
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| Japan (1947–present) |
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