Yoshiro Mori | |
|---|---|
森 喜朗 | |
 Official portrait, 2000 | |
| Prime Minister of Japan | |
| In office 5 April 2000 – 26 April 2001 | |
| Monarch | Akihito |
| Preceded by | Keizō Obuchi |
| Succeeded by | Junichiro Koizumi |
| President of the Liberal Democratic Party | |
| In office 5 April 2000 – 24 April 2001 | |
| Secretary-General | |
| Preceded by | Keizō Obuchi |
| Succeeded by | Junichiro Koizumi |
| Minister of Construction | |
| In office 8 August 1995 – 11 January 1996 | |
| Prime Minister | Tomiichi Murayama |
| Preceded by | Koken Nosaka |
| Succeeded by | Eiichi Nakao |
| Minister of International Trade and Industry | |
| In office 12 December 1992 – 20 July 1993 | |
| Prime Minister | Kiichi Miyazawa |
| Preceded by | Kozo Watanabe |
| Succeeded by | Hiroshi Kumagai |
| Minister of Education | |
| In office 27 December 1983 – 1 November 1984 | |
| Prime Minister | Yasuhiro Nakasone |
| Preceded by | Mitsuo Setoyama |
| Succeeded by | Hikaru Matsunaga |
| Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary (Political affairs) | |
| In office 28 November 1977 – 7 December 1978 | |
| Prime Minister | Takeo Fukuda |
| Preceded by | Masajuro Shiokawa |
| Succeeded by | Koichi Kato |
| President of theTokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games | |
| In office 24 January 2014 – 18 February 2021 | |
| IOC President | Thomas Bach |
| Preceded by | Committee established |
| Succeeded by | Seiko Hashimoto |
| Member of the House of Representatives fromIshikawa | |
| In office 28 December 1969 – 20 October 1996 | |
| Preceded by | Eiichi Sakata |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Constituency | 1st district (Multi-member) |
| In office 20 October 1996 – 16 November 2012 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency established |
| Succeeded by | Hajime Sasaki |
| Constituency | 2nd district |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1937-07-14)14 July 1937 (age 88) |
| Political party | Liberal Democratic (Seiwakai) |
| Spouse | Chieko Maki |
| Children | Yūki Mori Yoko Fujimoto |
| Alma mater | Waseda University (BBA) |
| Website | Yoshiro Mori WebSite |
Yoshirō Mori (Japanese:森 喜朗,Hepburn:Mori Yoshirō; born 14 July 1937) is a Japanese politician who served asPrime Minister of Japan andPresident of the Liberal Democratic Party from 2000 to 2001. He was unpopular in opinion polls during his time in office, and is known for making controversial statements, both during and after his premiership.[a]
Mori was born in present-dayNomi, Ishikawa, Japan, and worked as a journalist before entering politics. In 1969, Mori was elected in thelower house for theIshikawa 2nd district. He served in government as education minister in 1983 and 1984, international trade and industry minister in 1992 and 1993, and construction minister in 1995 and 1996, and later became secretary general of theLiberal Democratic Party (LDP). AfterKeizō Obuchi suffered a stroke and cerebral hemorrhage on 2 April 2000 and was unable to continue in office, Mori became president of the LDP and prime minister days before Obuchi's death.
The media coverage of Mori's term as prime minister was dominated by his gaffes and undiplomatic comments, which led to him becoming unpopular in opinion polls. Members of his cabinet resigned due to fundraising scandals, which also contributed to his unpopularity. In November 2000, with Mori's approval ratings below 30%, opposition politicians attempted to win avote of no confidence against Mori by soliciting support from rebels within the LDP, although this was quashed after LDP politicians who voted for the measure were threatened with expulsion. Towards the end of Mori's term, his approval rating dropped to single digits. In April 2001, Mori officially announced his intention to resign.Junichiro Koizumi won the subsequent LDP leadership election and became prime minister on 26 April 2001.
After resigning as prime minister, Mori remained a member of the House of Representatives until announcing in July 2012 that he would not stand in the2012 general election. He remained an important player inRusso-Japanese relations following his resignation as prime minister due to his close personal relationship withVladimir Putin. Following his premiership, Mori served as the President of theJapan Rugby Football Union as well as theJapan-Korea Parliamentarians' Union. In 2014, he was appointed to head theorganizing committee for the2020 Summer Olympics andParalympics,[7] but he resigned in 2021 following gaffes made at a committee meeting that were perceived assexist.[8] In 2003, Mori received the highest distinction of theScout Association of Japan, theGolden Pheasant Award.
Yoshiro Mori was born in present-dayNomi, Ishikawa, Japan, as the son ofShigeki and Kaoru Mori, wealthy rice farmers with a history in politics, as both his father and grandfather served as the mayor ofNeagari,Ishikawa Prefecture. His mother died when Yoshiro was seven years old. He studied at theWaseda University in Tokyo, joining therugby union club. He developed a passion for the sport but was never a high-level player; he once compared rugby to his relationship with other parties in the ruling coalition by stating: "In rugby, one person doesn't become a star, one person plays for all, and all play for one."[9]
After university, Mori joined theSankei Shimbun, a conservative newspaper in Japan.
In 1962, Mori left the newspaper and became secretary of aDiet member, and in the1969 general election, he was elected in thelower house at age 32. He was reelected 10 consecutive times. In 1980, he was involved in theRecruit scandal about receiving unlisted shares of Recruit (company) before they were publicly traded, and selling them after they were made public for a profit of approximately 1 million dollars.
Mori was education minister in 1983 and 1984, international trade and industry minister in 1992 and 1993, and construction minister in 1995 and 1996.
In 1999, Mori began to assume control of the Mitsuzuka faction (formerly Abe faction) that had been headed byHiroshi Mitsuzuka in theLiberal Democratic Party (LDP).[10]
In the midst of a battle withLiberal Party leaderIchirō Ozawa, Prime MinisterKeizō Obuchi suffered a stroke and cerebral hemorrhage on 2 April 2000 and was unable to continue in office. TheCabinet held an emergency meeting and resigned en masse. Mori, who was the secretary general of theLiberal Democratic Party (LDP), was unanimously elected president, and became prime minister with the votes of the LDP,New Komeito andNew Conservative Party (composed of members who left Ozawa's party on 3 April). Mori announced that he would keep Obuchi's cabinet in place.[11]
The media coverage of Mori's term as prime minister was dominated by his gaffes and undiplomatic comments. Even prior to his election as prime minister, he had been described in the Japanese media as having "the heart of a flea and the brain of a shark".[11][12]
Two senior Mori appointees resigned due to fundraising scandals in August 2000. Mori's disapproval rating neared 60% following these resignations.[21]
In November 2000, with Mori's approval ratings below 30%, opposition politicians attempted to win avote of no confidence against Mori by soliciting support from rebels within the LDP, guided byKoichi Kato in the so-called "Kato's rebellion".[22]Hiromu Nonaka, the secretary general of the party, quashed the potential revolt by threatening to expel any LDP politicians who voted for the measure.[23] The vote failed 237 to 190.[24] Nonaka resigned days later amid speculation that he would challenge Mori for leadership of the LDP.[25]
Towards the end of Mori's term, his approval rating dropped to single digits.[26] In March 2001, reports surfaced that Mori had told LDP leaders of his plans to resign. Although he denied the reports, they contributed to a massive drop in Japanese stock market prices early that week.[27] On 6 April, he officially announced his intention to resign.[28]Junichiro Koizumi won the subsequent LDP leadership election and became prime minister on 26 April 2001.
Mori appointed three cabinets. The third cabinet is officially referred to as a continuation of the second cabinet, as the changes came amid a major administrative realignment in January 2001 that eliminated several cabinet positions and renamed several key ministries.
After resigning as prime minister, Mori remained a member of the House of Representatives, representing theIshikawa 2nd district, until announcing in July 2012 that he would not stand in theDecember 2012 general election.[29]
He was awarded thePadma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian award, in 2004.[30]
Mori remained an important player inRusso-Japanese relations following his resignation as prime minister due to his close personal relationship withVladimir Putin. Prime MinisterYoshihiko Noda of theDemocratic Party of Japan considered tapping Mori in 2012 to resolve the dispute between the two countries over theKuril Islands, despite the fact that Noda and Mori were from opposing parties in the Diet.[31]
In 2013, Mori met with Putin andSergey Naryshkin in preparations for a summit between Putin and Japanese Prime MinisterShinzō Abe. Mori had at one time suggested that Japan could give Russia three of the four disputed islands in exchange for a peace treaty, which went against the Japanese government's official view that Moscow should acknowledge Japan's ownership of all four.[32]
Mori has a personal connection to Russia, as his father Shigeki Mori developed a relationship with the Siberian town ofShelekhov during his time as mayor of the city ofNeagari, and developed a bilateral dialogue to improve the gravesites of Soviet soldiers in Japan and Japanese soldiers in Siberia; he was so close to Russia that Japanese authorities monitored him closely as a potential communist sympathizer. The elder Mori visited Shelekhov more than 15 times during his 35 years in office, and was buried there following his death.[33]
Mori became President of theJapan Rugby Football Union in June 2005. It had been hoped his clout would help secure the2011 Rugby Union World Cup for Japan, but instead the event was awarded to New Zealand in late November 2005.[34] This led Mori to accuse theCommonwealth of Nations countries of "passing the ball around their friends."[35] Mori later assisted in Japan's successful bids for both the2019 Rugby World Cup and2020 Summer Olympics.[7]
In 2014, at the age of 76, he was appointed to head the organizing committee for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. He quipped, "I am destined to live five or six more years if I am lucky. This will be my one last service to the country."[7] However, Mori drew international and domestic criticism for his critical statements about Japan's Olympic figure skatersMao Asada andChris Reed andCathy Reed, who were representing Japan at the2014 Sochi Olympics.[36]
Another controversy occurred in 2021 when Mori, who at this time was president of the organization responsible for the upcoming Olympic Games, said that women talk too much in meetings.[6] At theorganizing committee meeting for theTokyo Olympics while discussing the objective of aiming for at least 40% of members to be female, he stated that “On boards with a lot of women, the board meetings take so much time. Women have a strong sense of competition. If one person raises their hand, others probably think, I need to say something too. That’s why everyone speaks. [...] You have to regulate speaking time to some extent [...] Or else we’ll never be able to finish”[37] He apologized for his statements and initially stated he would not resign as head of the organizing committee,[38] but on February 11 announced his intention to step down from the post.[39] In his resignation speech the following day, Mori said that he did not intend to demean women, and blamed the media for fueling public anger. He stressed the importance that the Olympics be held in July, adding that the committee's efforts would be wasted if he were to cause trouble by remaining in his post.[8]Seiko Hashimoto, an Olympicbronze medalist in women'sspeed skating and a seven-time Olympian, was named as Mori's replacement.[40]
As the former head of theSeiwa Seisaku Kenkyūkai, which was the main faction involved in the2023–2024 Japanese slush fund scandal, Mori has come into question for his role in the kickback scheme. Then-incumbent Prime MinisterFumio Kishida did not reject the idea of forcing him to testify.[41]
Mori is an avidrugby fan as well as an amateur player.[42] He is married to Chieko (born: Chieko Maki), a fellowWaseda University student, and he has a son, Yūki Mori, and a daughter, Yoko Fujimoto.
In 2003, he received the highest distinction of theScout Association of Japan, theGolden Pheasant Award.[43]
Padma Bhushan (2004)
Order of Brilliant Star with Special Grand Cordon (2006)[44][45]
Medal "In Commemoration of the 300th Anniversary of Saint Petersburg" (2007)
Grand Officier,Légion d'honneur (2010)
_Grand_Gwanghwa_Medal_ribbon.gif)
Order of Diplomatic Service Merit Grand Gwanghwa Medal (2010)
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister of Education 1983–1984 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of International Trade and Industry 1992–1993 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Construction 1995–1996 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Japan 2000–2001 | Succeeded by |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by | Chairperson of the G8 2000 | Succeeded by |
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | President of Organizing Committee for Summer Olympic Games 2020 | Succeeded by |
| Empire of Japan (1868–1947) |
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| Japan (1947–present) |
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