Taro Aso
Encyclopedia
was the 92nd Prime Minister of Japan
serving from September 2008 to September 2009, and was defeated in the August 2009 election.
He has served in the House of Representatives
since 1979. He was Minister for Foreign Affairs
from 2005 to 2007, and was Secretary-General of the LDP briefly in 2007 and in 2008. He was President of the Liberal Democratic Party
(LDP) from 2008 to 2009. His successor, Sadakazu Tanigaki
, was chosen 28 September 2009.
on September 20, 1940. His father, Takakichi Aso, was the chairman of the Aso Cement Company and a close associate of Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka
; his mother Kazuko Aso was Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida
's daughter. Taro is also a great-great-grandson of Ōkubo Toshimichi
, and his current wife, Chikako is the third daughter of Prime Minister Zenko Suzuki
. His younger sister, Nobuko
, is the wife of Prince Tomohito of Mikasa
, a first cousin of the Emperor Akihito.
Aso first graduated from the Faculty of Politics and Economics at Gakushuin University
. He then studied in the United States
at Stanford University
, but was cut off by his family, who feared he was becoming too Americanized. After making his way back to Japan on a ship, he left once more to study at the London School of Economics
.
Aso spent two years working for a diamond mining operation in Sierra Leone
before civil war forced him to return to Japan.
Aso joined his father's company in 1966, and served as president of the Aso Mining Company from 1973 to 1979. Working for the company, he lived in Brazil
during the 1960s and became fluent in Portuguese
.
He was also a member of the Japanese shooting
team at the 1976 Summer Olympics
in Montreal
and President of the Japan Junior Chamber
in 1978.
in October 1979, and has since been re-elected eight times. In 1988, he became Parliamentary Vice Minister for Education.
He joined the Cabinet
of Junichiro Koizumi
in 2003 as Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications. On October 31, 2005, he became Minister for Foreign Affairs. There has been some speculation that his position in the Cabinet was due to his membership in the Kōno Group, an LDP caucus led by pro-Chinese lawmaker Yōhei Kōno
: by appointing Aso as Minister for Foreign Affairs, Koizumi may have been attempting to "rein in" Kōno's statements critical of Japanese foreign policy.
Aso was one of the final candidates to replace Koizumi as prime minister in 2006, but lost the internal party election to Shinzō Abe
by a wide margin. Both Abe and Aso are conservative on foreign policy issues and have taken confrontational stances towards some East Asia
n nations, particularly North Korea
and, to a lesser extent, the People's Republic of China
. Abe was considered a more "moderate" politician than the more "hard-line" Aso, and led Aso in opinion polling within Japan. Aso's views on multilateralism are suggested in a 2006 speech, "Arc of Freedom and Prosperity: Japan's Expanding Diplomatic Horizons."
On September 14, 2007, shortly after Abe announced his resignation, Aso announced his candidacy to replace Abe as Prime Minister. Aso was initially considered to be a leading candidate for the position but was soon eclipsed by Yasuo Fukuda
, a more "dovish" politician supported by Nobutaka Machimura
, Fukushiro Nukaga
, and reportedly by Koizumi as well. Aso acknowledged that he would most likely lose to Fukuda, but said that he wanted to run so that there would be an open election, saying that otherwise LDP would face criticism for making its choice "through back-room deals". In the President election
, held on September 23, Fukuda defeated Aso, receiving 330 votes against 197 votes for Aso.
On August 1, 2008, Fukuda appointed Aso as Secretary-General of LDP, a move that solidified Aso's position as the number two man in the party.
Suddenly and unexpectedly on September 1, 2008, Fukuda announced his resignation as Prime Minister. Five LDP members including Aso ran for new party President to succeed Fukuda. On September 21, one day before votes of Diet party members, Aso reportedly told a crowd of supporters outside Tokyo: "The greatest concern right now is the economy." "America is facing a financial crisis ... we must not allow that to bring us down as well." Finally on September 22, Aso did win. Aso was elected as President of LDP with 351 of 525 votes (217 from 384 Diet party members, 134 from 47 prefecture branches); Kaoru Yosano
, Yuriko Koike
, Nobuteru Ishihara
, Shigeru Ishiba
got 66, 46, 37, 25 votes respectively.
Two days later on September 24, Aso was designated by the Diet as Prime Minister, and was formally appointed to the office by the Emperor on that night. In the House of Representatives
(lower house), Aso garnered 337 out of 478 votes cast; in the House of Councillors
(upper house), Ichirō Ozawa
, President of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, was named through two times of ballots. Because no agreement was reached at a joint committee of both Houses, the resolution of the House of Representatives became the resolution of the Diet, as is stipulated in the Constitution. Aso reportedly said, "If you look at the current period, it's not a stable one." and "These are turbulent times with the financial situation and everything else."
Later on the same day as his election as Prime Minister, Aso personally announced his new Cabinet (this is normally done by the Chief Cabinet Secretary
). Aso's Cabinet was markedly different from the preceding Cabinet under Fukuda. Five of its members had never previously served in the Cabinet, and one of them, 34-year-old Yūko Obuchi
, was the youngest member of the Cabinet in the post-war era.
Prime Minister Aso flew to Washington to meet with President Obama
in February 2009. Aso was the first foreign leader to visit the Obama White House; however, reports suggested that the new administration was interested less in giving Aso a political boost than in sending a message that Japan continues to be an important ally and partner – a low-risk, high-payoff gesture for both Aso and Obama.
After Aso's election as prime minister he was expected to dissolve the lower house to clear the way for a general election. But he repeatedly stressed the need for a functioning government to face the economic crisis and ruled out an early election. Only after passage of the extra budget for fiscal 2009 in May and facing internal pressure from the LDP after a series of defeats in regional elections – most notably the Tokyo prefectural election on July 12
– Aso decided to announce a general election for August 30, 2009
. He dissolved the House of Representatives on July 21, 2009. The LDP lost by a landslide to Minshuto, in the face of record levels of post-war unemployment. Accepting responsibility for the worst defeat of a sitting government in modern Japanese history, Aso immediately resigned as LDP president.
can't become prime minister," referring to Hiromu Nonaka
, a burakumin member of the Diet. Aso's office later attempted to clarify the statements by saying that they were misunderstood.
In 2001, as economics minister, he was quoted as saying he wanted to make Japan a country where "rich Jews" would like to live.
On October 15, 2005, during the opening ceremony of the Kyushu National Museum which also displays how other Asian cultures have influenced Japanese cultural heritage, he praised Japan for having "one culture, one civilization, one language, and one ethnic group," and stated that it was the only such country in the world. Such statements conflict with the fact Japan has various indigenous ethnic groups such as the Ainu who are spread over its northern islands.
At a lecture in Nagasaki Prefecture, Aso referred to a Japanese peace initiative on the Middle East
, stating, "The Japanese were trusted because they had never been involved in exploitation there, or been involved in fights or fired machine guns. Japan is doing what the Americans can't do. It would probably be no good to have blue eyes and blond hair. Luckily, we Japanese have yellow faces."
Kyodo News
reported that he had said on February 4, 2006, "our predecessors did a good thing" regarding compulsory education
implemented during Japan's colonization of Taiwan
.
On December 21, 2005, he said China was "a neighbour with one billion people equipped with nuclear bombs and has expanded its military outlays by double digits for 17 years in a row, and it is unclear as to what this is being used for. It is beginning to be a considerable threat." On January 28, 2006, he called for the emperor to visit the controversial Yasukuni
shrine. He later backtracked on the comment, but stated that he hoped such a visit would be possible in the future.
Mainichi Daily News reported that on March 9, 2006 he referred to Taiwan
as a "law-abiding country", which drew strong protest from Beijing
, which considers the island a part of China
.
On September 23, 2008, Akahata, the daily newspaper published by Japanese Communist Party
released a compiled list of these and other statements as the front page article criticizing Aso. This compilation as well as similar lists of blunders have been frequently cited in the Japanese media.
Yahoo News reported that he had said on January 9, 2009, "To work is good. It's completely different thinking from the Old Testament."
In mid-2008 Aso conceded that his family's coal mine, Aso Mining Company, was alleged to have forced Allied
prisoners of war
to work in the mines in 1945 without pay. Western media had reported that 300 prisoners, including 197 Australia
ns, 101 British
, and two Dutch
, worked in the mine. Two of the Australians, John Watson and Leslie Edgar George Wilkie, died while working in the Aso mine. In addition, 10,000 Korean conscripts worked in the mine between 1939 and 1945 under severe, brutal conditions in which many of them died or were injured while receiving little pay. The company, now known as the Aso Group, is currently run by Aso's younger brother. Aso's wife serves on its board of directors
. Aso headed the company in the 1970s before going into politics.
Acting on a request from Yukihisa Fujita
, the Foreign Ministry
investigated and announced on December 18, 2008 that Aso Mining had, in fact, used 300 Allied POWs at its mine during World War II. The ministry confirmed that two Australians had died while working at the mine, but declined to release their names or causes of deaths for "privacy reasons." Said Fujita, "Prisoner policy is important in many ways for diplomacy, and it is a major problem that the issue has been neglected for so long." Aso has not responded to requests from former laborers to apologize for the way they were treated by his family's company.
words written in his speeches, even though many of the words are commonly used in Japanese. Aso spoke of the speaking errors to reporters on November 12, 2008 saying, "Those were just reading errors, just mistakes." Aso's tendency for malapropisms has led comparisons to George W. Bush
, and the use of his name, "Taro" as a schoolyard taunt for unintelligent children.
An anatomy professor from the University of Tokyo
, Takeshi Yoro, speculated that Aso could possibly suffer from dyslexia
.
, was among the LDP's chief candidates to succeed Yoshirō Mori
as prime minister of Japan. During a meeting of LDP leaders at which Nonaka was not present, Aso reportedly told the assembled group, "We are not going to let someone from the buraku become the prime minister, are we?". Aso's remark was apparently a reference to Nonaka's Burakumin
, a social minority group
in Japan, heritage.
Nonaka subsequently withdrew as a candidate. Aso eventually lost the appointment to Junichiro Koizumi
. Aso's comment about Nonaka's heritage was revealed in 2005. Aso denied that he had made the statement, but Hisaoki Kamei
, who was present at the 2001 meeting, stated in January 2009 that he had heard Aso say something, "to that effect." Nonaka said that he would "never forgive" Aso for the comment and went on to state that Aso was a "misery" to Japan.
According to the Asahi Shimbun
Aso dined-out or drank at bars 32 times in September 2008, mainly at exclusive hotels. Aso's predecessor, Yasuo Fukuda, dined-out only seven times in his first month in office. Both of the LDP's opposition parties have called Aso's frequent outings inappropriate. Aso's Chief Cabinet Secretary
, Jun Matsumoto
, commented on the issue by saying that Aso's frequent trips to restaurants, "is his lifestyle and philosophy, and I am not in a position to express my opinion. If only there were more appropriate places when considering security issues and not causing trouble for other customers."
.
Aso has been a fan of manga
since childhood. He had his family send manga magazines from Japan while he was studying at Stanford University. In 2003, he described reading about 10 or 20 manga magazines every week (making up only part of Aso's voracious reading) and talked about his impression of various manga extemporaneously. In 2007, as Minister for Foreign Affairs
, he established the International Manga Award
for non-Japanese manga artists
.
It was reported that Aso was seen reading the manga Rozen Maiden
in Tokyo International Airport
, which earned him the sobriquet
"His Excellency Rozen". He admitted in an interview that he had read the manga; however, he said he did not remember whether he had read it in an airport.
Aso's candidacy for the position of Japanese Prime Minister actually caused share-value to rise among some manga publishers and companies related to the manga industry.
; but he has not emphasized his religiosity. While Christians only account for around 1% of the Japanese, Aso is the seventh Christian prime minister of Japan, after Hara Kei, Takahashi Korekiyo
, Masayoshi Ōhira
, Ichirō Hatoyama
, Tetsu Katayama
, and his own grandfather Shigeru Yoshida
.
On occasion of his 2009 new year visit to the Shinto Ise Shrine
, Aso has publicly performed the hand-clapping in front of the shrine, stating later that he had "prayed for the good of the Japanese people".
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Prime Minister of Japan
The is the head of government of Japan. He is appointed by the Emperor of Japan after being designated by the Diet from among its members, and must enjoy the confidence of the House of Representatives to remain in office...
serving from September 2008 to September 2009, and was defeated in the August 2009 election.
He has served in the House of Representatives
House of Representatives of Japan
The is the lower house of the Diet of Japan. The House of Councillors of Japan is the upper house.The House of Representatives has 480 members, elected for a four-year term. Of these, 180 members are elected from 11 multi-member constituencies by a party-list system of proportional representation,...
since 1979. He was Minister for Foreign Affairs
Minister for Foreign Affairs (Japan)
The of Japan is the Cabinet member responsible for Japanese foreign policy and the chief executive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.Since the end of the American occupation of Japan, the position has been one of the most powerful in the Cabinet, as Japan's economic interests have long relied on...
from 2005 to 2007, and was Secretary-General of the LDP briefly in 2007 and in 2008. He was President of the Liberal Democratic Party
Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)
The , frequently abbreviated to LDP or , is a centre-right political party in Japan. It is one of the most consistently successful political parties in the democratic world. The LDP ruled almost continuously for nearly 54 years from its founding in 1955 until its defeat in the 2009 election...
(LDP) from 2008 to 2009. His successor, Sadakazu Tanigaki
Sadakazu Tanigaki
is a conservative Japanese politician who served as Minister of Finance from 2003 to 2006, in the cabinet of Jun'ichirō Koizumi. He also served as Minister of Construction and Transport in the cabinet of Yasuo Fukuda and is serving his ninth term as a member of the House of Representatives,...
, was chosen 28 September 2009.
Early life
Aso, a Roman Catholic, was born in Iizuka, FukuokaIizuka, Fukuoka
is a city located at the confluence of the Honami and Onga rivers in central Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan.Iizuka was an important post-station on the Nagasaki Kaidō during the Edo Era. As Japan industrialised, Iizuka became the center of the most productive coal fields in Japan located throughout the...
on September 20, 1940. His father, Takakichi Aso, was the chairman of the Aso Cement Company and a close associate of Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka
Kakuei Tanaka
was a Japanese politician and the 64th and 65th Prime Minister of Japan from 7 July 1972 to 22 December 1972 and from 22 December 1972 to 9 December 1974 respectively...
; his mother Kazuko Aso was Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida
Shigeru Yoshida
, KCVO was a Japanese diplomat and politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1946 to 1947 and from 1948 to 1954.-Early life:...
's daughter. Taro is also a great-great-grandson of Ōkubo Toshimichi
Okubo Toshimichi
, was a Japanese statesman, a samurai of Satsuma, and one of the three great nobles who led the Meiji Restoration. He is regarded as one of the main founders of modern Japan.-Early life:...
, and his current wife, Chikako is the third daughter of Prime Minister Zenko Suzuki
Zenko Suzuki
was a Japanese politician and the 70th Prime Minister of Japan from July 17, 1980 to November 27, 1982.Suzuki graduated from Tokyo University of Fisheries in 1935...
. His younger sister, Nobuko
Princess Tomohito of Mikasa
Nobuko, Princess Tomohito of Mikasa was born on 9 April 1955. She was born as Nobuko Aso, the third daughter of the late Takakichi Asō. Her father was chairman of Asō Cement Co., her mother Kazuko was the daughter of former prime minister Shigeru Yoshida...
, is the wife of Prince Tomohito of Mikasa
Prince Tomohito of Mikasa
, is a member of the Imperial House of Japan and the eldest son of the current HIH Prince Mikasa and HIH Princess Mikasa. He is a first cousin of Emperor Akihito, and is the heir apparent to the princely house of Mikasa-no-miya...
, a first cousin of the Emperor Akihito.
Aso first graduated from the Faculty of Politics and Economics at Gakushuin University
Gakushuin University
is an elite higher educational institution in Mejiro, Toshima Ward, Tokyo. It was re-established after World War II as an affiliate of the Gakushūin School Corporation, the privatized successor to the original Gakushūin University or "Peers School" set up during the Meiji era to educate the...
. He then studied in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, but was cut off by his family, who feared he was becoming too Americanized. After making his way back to Japan on a ship, he left once more to study at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
.
Aso spent two years working for a diamond mining operation in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
before civil war forced him to return to Japan.
Aso joined his father's company in 1966, and served as president of the Aso Mining Company from 1973 to 1979. Working for the company, he lived in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
during the 1960s and became fluent in Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
.
He was also a member of the Japanese shooting
Shooting sports
A shooting sport is a competitive sport involving tests of proficiency using various types of guns such as firearms and airguns . Hunting is also a shooting sport, and indeed shooting live pigeons was an Olympic event...
team at the 1976 Summer Olympics
1976 Summer Olympics
The 1976 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1976. Montreal was awarded the rights to the 1976 Games on May 12, 1970, at the 69th IOC Session in Amsterdam, over the bids of Moscow and...
in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
and President of the Japan Junior Chamber
Junior Chamber International
Junior Chamber International is the only worldwide non-political and non-sectarian youth service organization. It is an international community of citizens between the ages of to with the aim and purpose of creating positive changes in the world...
in 1978.
Political career
Aso was elected as a member of the House of RepresentativesHouse of Representatives of Japan
The is the lower house of the Diet of Japan. The House of Councillors of Japan is the upper house.The House of Representatives has 480 members, elected for a four-year term. Of these, 180 members are elected from 11 multi-member constituencies by a party-list system of proportional representation,...
in October 1979, and has since been re-elected eight times. In 1988, he became Parliamentary Vice Minister for Education.
He joined the Cabinet
Cabinet of Japan
The of Japan is the executive branch of the government of Japan. It consists of the Prime Minister and up to fourteen other members, called Ministers of State. The Prime Minister is designated by the Diet, and the remaining ministers are appointed and dismissed by the Prime Minister...
of Junichiro Koizumi
Junichiro Koizumi
is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2001 to 2006. He retired from politics when his term in parliament ended.Widely seen as a maverick leader of the Liberal Democratic Party , he became known as an economic reformer, focusing on Japan's government debt and the...
in 2003 as Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications. On October 31, 2005, he became Minister for Foreign Affairs. There has been some speculation that his position in the Cabinet was due to his membership in the Kōno Group, an LDP caucus led by pro-Chinese lawmaker Yōhei Kōno
Yohei Kono
is a Japanese politician and a member of the Liberal Democratic Party. He served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from November 2003 until August 2009, when the LDP lost its majority in the 2009 election...
: by appointing Aso as Minister for Foreign Affairs, Koizumi may have been attempting to "rein in" Kōno's statements critical of Japanese foreign policy.
Aso was one of the final candidates to replace Koizumi as prime minister in 2006, but lost the internal party election to Shinzō Abe
Shinzo Abe
was the 90th Prime Minister of Japan, elected by a special session of the National Diet on 26 September 2006. He was Japan's youngest post–World War II prime minister and the first born after the war. Abe served as prime minister for nearly twelve months, before resigning on 12 September 2007...
by a wide margin. Both Abe and Aso are conservative on foreign policy issues and have taken confrontational stances towards some East Asia
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
n nations, particularly North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
and, to a lesser extent, the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
. Abe was considered a more "moderate" politician than the more "hard-line" Aso, and led Aso in opinion polling within Japan. Aso's views on multilateralism are suggested in a 2006 speech, "Arc of Freedom and Prosperity: Japan's Expanding Diplomatic Horizons."
On September 14, 2007, shortly after Abe announced his resignation, Aso announced his candidacy to replace Abe as Prime Minister. Aso was initially considered to be a leading candidate for the position but was soon eclipsed by Yasuo Fukuda
Yasuo Fukuda
was the 91st Prime Minister of Japan, serving from 2007 to 2008. He was previously the longest-serving Chief Cabinet Secretary in Japanese history, serving for three and a half years under Prime Ministers Yoshirō Mori and Junichiro Koizumi....
, a more "dovish" politician supported by Nobutaka Machimura
Nobutaka Machimura
is a Japanese politician. He is a member of the House of Representatives of Japan and a member of the Liberal Democratic Party. He was Chief Cabinet Secretary in the government of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda from 2007 to 2008.- Career :...
, Fukushiro Nukaga
Fukushiro Nukaga
is a Japanese politician and a member of the Liberal Democratic Party. He has been a member of the House of Representatives since 1983 and represents Ibaraki's 2nd district. He was Minister of Finance from 2007 to 2008....
, and reportedly by Koizumi as well. Aso acknowledged that he would most likely lose to Fukuda, but said that he wanted to run so that there would be an open election, saying that otherwise LDP would face criticism for making its choice "through back-room deals". In the President election
Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) leadership election, 2007
A leadership election was held in the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan on 23 September 2007 after the incumbent party leader and Prime Minister of Japan Shinzō Abe announced that he would resign on 12 September 2007. Abe had only been elected to the post slightly less than a year earlier; his...
, held on September 23, Fukuda defeated Aso, receiving 330 votes against 197 votes for Aso.
On August 1, 2008, Fukuda appointed Aso as Secretary-General of LDP, a move that solidified Aso's position as the number two man in the party.
Suddenly and unexpectedly on September 1, 2008, Fukuda announced his resignation as Prime Minister. Five LDP members including Aso ran for new party President to succeed Fukuda. On September 21, one day before votes of Diet party members, Aso reportedly told a crowd of supporters outside Tokyo: "The greatest concern right now is the economy." "America is facing a financial crisis ... we must not allow that to bring us down as well." Finally on September 22, Aso did win. Aso was elected as President of LDP with 351 of 525 votes (217 from 384 Diet party members, 134 from 47 prefecture branches); Kaoru Yosano
Kaoru Yosano
is a Japanese politician. He was a member of Liberal Democratic Party , the Sunrise Party of Japan and former member of the House of Representatives, serving his ninth term in the Lower House representing Tokyo's first electoral district until his defeat in the Japanese general election, 2009...
, Yuriko Koike
Yuriko Koike
is a Japanese politician, who was the Minister of Defense in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, but resigned August 27, 2007 after only 54 days in office...
, Nobuteru Ishihara
Nobuteru Ishihara
is a Japanese politician.He was born in Zushi, Kanagawa, the son of author Shintaro Ishihara . He attended Keio Gijuku High School and graduated from the literature faculty of Keio University in 1981...
, Shigeru Ishiba
Shigeru Ishiba
Shigeru Ishiba is a Japanese politician. He was Minister of Defense under Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda from 2007 to 2008 and was also Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries....
got 66, 46, 37, 25 votes respectively.
Two days later on September 24, Aso was designated by the Diet as Prime Minister, and was formally appointed to the office by the Emperor on that night. In the House of Representatives
House of Representatives of Japan
The is the lower house of the Diet of Japan. The House of Councillors of Japan is the upper house.The House of Representatives has 480 members, elected for a four-year term. Of these, 180 members are elected from 11 multi-member constituencies by a party-list system of proportional representation,...
(lower house), Aso garnered 337 out of 478 votes cast; in the House of Councillors
House of Councillors
The is the upper house of the Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives is the lower house. The House of Councillors is the successor to the pre-war House of Peers. If the two houses disagree on matters of the budget, treaties, or designation of the prime minister, the House of Representatives...
(upper house), Ichirō Ozawa
Ichiro Ozawa
is a Japanese politician. Formerly a chief secretary of the Liberal Democratic Party , he later defected from the LDP. He was the president of Japan's main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan , from 2006 until May 2009, when he resigned over a fund scandal, and secretary general of the...
, President of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, was named through two times of ballots. Because no agreement was reached at a joint committee of both Houses, the resolution of the House of Representatives became the resolution of the Diet, as is stipulated in the Constitution. Aso reportedly said, "If you look at the current period, it's not a stable one." and "These are turbulent times with the financial situation and everything else."
Later on the same day as his election as Prime Minister, Aso personally announced his new Cabinet (this is normally done by the Chief Cabinet Secretary
Chief Cabinet Secretary
__notoc__The of Japan is a Minister of State who is responsible for directing the Cabinet Secretariat. The main function of Chief Cabinet Secretary is to coordinate the policies of ministries and agencies in the executive branch...
). Aso's Cabinet was markedly different from the preceding Cabinet under Fukuda. Five of its members had never previously served in the Cabinet, and one of them, 34-year-old Yūko Obuchi
Yuko Obuchi
is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet and the current Minister of State in charge of the Declining Birthrate....
, was the youngest member of the Cabinet in the post-war era.
Prime Minister Aso flew to Washington to meet with President Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
in February 2009. Aso was the first foreign leader to visit the Obama White House; however, reports suggested that the new administration was interested less in giving Aso a political boost than in sending a message that Japan continues to be an important ally and partner – a low-risk, high-payoff gesture for both Aso and Obama.
After Aso's election as prime minister he was expected to dissolve the lower house to clear the way for a general election. But he repeatedly stressed the need for a functioning government to face the economic crisis and ruled out an early election. Only after passage of the extra budget for fiscal 2009 in May and facing internal pressure from the LDP after a series of defeats in regional elections – most notably the Tokyo prefectural election on July 12
Tokyo prefectural election, 2009
Prefectural elections for the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly were held on 12 July 2009. In the runup to the Japanese general election due by October they were seen as an important test for Taro Aso's ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and the New Komeito...
– Aso decided to announce a general election for August 30, 2009
Japanese general election, 2009
A general election in Japan was held on August 30, 2009, for all 480 seats of the House of Representatives of Japan, the lower house of the Diet of Japan....
. He dissolved the House of Representatives on July 21, 2009. The LDP lost by a landslide to Minshuto, in the face of record levels of post-war unemployment. Accepting responsibility for the worst defeat of a sitting government in modern Japanese history, Aso immediately resigned as LDP president.
Fight against terrorism
On the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, Prime Minister Aso publicly made a speech, stating: "This kind of terrorism is unforgivable, extremely despicable and vicious. I feel strong resentment and deeply condemn it. Japan is with the Indian people who are fighting against terrorism and we will cooperate with the Indian government."Controversial statements
During a meeting of the Kono Group in 2001, Aso drew criticism when he said that "that burakuminBurakumin
are a Japanese social minority group. The burakumin are one of the main minority groups in Japan, along with the Ainu of Hokkaidō, the Ryukyuans of Okinawa and Japanese residents of Korean and Chinese descent....
can't become prime minister," referring to Hiromu Nonaka
Hiromu Nonaka
is a Japanese LDP politician and former member of the House of Representatives. He is currently a lecturer at Heian Jogakuin University.He has held the following posts:...
, a burakumin member of the Diet. Aso's office later attempted to clarify the statements by saying that they were misunderstood.
In 2001, as economics minister, he was quoted as saying he wanted to make Japan a country where "rich Jews" would like to live.
On October 15, 2005, during the opening ceremony of the Kyushu National Museum which also displays how other Asian cultures have influenced Japanese cultural heritage, he praised Japan for having "one culture, one civilization, one language, and one ethnic group," and stated that it was the only such country in the world. Such statements conflict with the fact Japan has various indigenous ethnic groups such as the Ainu who are spread over its northern islands.
At a lecture in Nagasaki Prefecture, Aso referred to a Japanese peace initiative on the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, stating, "The Japanese were trusted because they had never been involved in exploitation there, or been involved in fights or fired machine guns. Japan is doing what the Americans can't do. It would probably be no good to have blue eyes and blond hair. Luckily, we Japanese have yellow faces."
Kyodo News
Kyodo News
is a nonprofit cooperative news agency based in Minato, Tokyo. It was established in November 1945 and it distributes news to almost all newspapers, and radio and television networks in Japan. The newspapers using its news have about 50 million subscribers. K. K. Kyodo News is Kyodo News' business...
reported that he had said on February 4, 2006, "our predecessors did a good thing" regarding compulsory education
Compulsory education
Compulsory education refers to a period of education that is required of all persons.-Antiquity to Medieval Era:Although Plato's The Republic is credited with having popularized the concept of compulsory education in Western intellectual thought, every parent in Judea since Moses's Covenant with...
implemented during Japan's colonization of Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
.
On December 21, 2005, he said China was "a neighbour with one billion people equipped with nuclear bombs and has expanded its military outlays by double digits for 17 years in a row, and it is unclear as to what this is being used for. It is beginning to be a considerable threat." On January 28, 2006, he called for the emperor to visit the controversial Yasukuni
Yasukuni Shrine
is a Shinto shrine located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is dedicated to the soldiers and others who died fighting on behalf of the Emperor of Japan. Currently, its Symbolic Registry of Divinities lists the names of over 2,466,000 enshrined men and women whose lives were dedicated to the service of...
shrine. He later backtracked on the comment, but stated that he hoped such a visit would be possible in the future.
Mainichi Daily News reported that on March 9, 2006 he referred to Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
as a "law-abiding country", which drew strong protest from Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, which considers the island a part of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
.
On September 23, 2008, Akahata, the daily newspaper published by Japanese Communist Party
Japanese Communist Party
The Japanese Communist Party is a left-wing political party in Japan.The JCP advocates the establishment of a society based on socialism, democracy and peace, and opposition to militarism...
released a compiled list of these and other statements as the front page article criticizing Aso. This compilation as well as similar lists of blunders have been frequently cited in the Japanese media.
Yahoo News reported that he had said on January 9, 2009, "To work is good. It's completely different thinking from the Old Testament."
Aso Mining forced labor controversy
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
prisoners of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
to work in the mines in 1945 without pay. Western media had reported that 300 prisoners, including 197 Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
ns, 101 British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, and two Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, worked in the mine. Two of the Australians, John Watson and Leslie Edgar George Wilkie, died while working in the Aso mine. In addition, 10,000 Korean conscripts worked in the mine between 1939 and 1945 under severe, brutal conditions in which many of them died or were injured while receiving little pay. The company, now known as the Aso Group, is currently run by Aso's younger brother. Aso's wife serves on its board of directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
. Aso headed the company in the 1970s before going into politics.
Acting on a request from Yukihisa Fujita
Yukihisa Fujita
is a Japanese politician of the Democratic Party of Japan , a member of the House of Councillors, the upper house of Japan's parliament, from the Ibaraki constituency. In the House of Councillors he is the Chair of the Committee on Financial Affairs...
, the Foreign Ministry
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan)
The is a cabinet level ministry of Japan responsible for the country's foreign relations.The ministry is due to the second term of the third article of the National Government Organization Act , and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Establishment Act establishes the ministry...
investigated and announced on December 18, 2008 that Aso Mining had, in fact, used 300 Allied POWs at its mine during World War II. The ministry confirmed that two Australians had died while working at the mine, but declined to release their names or causes of deaths for "privacy reasons." Said Fujita, "Prisoner policy is important in many ways for diplomacy, and it is a major problem that the issue has been neglected for so long." Aso has not responded to requests from former laborers to apologize for the way they were treated by his family's company.
Reading mistakes
The Japanese media noted in November 2008 that Aso often mispronounced or incorrectly read kanjiKanji
Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
words written in his speeches, even though many of the words are commonly used in Japanese. Aso spoke of the speaking errors to reporters on November 12, 2008 saying, "Those were just reading errors, just mistakes." Aso's tendency for malapropisms has led comparisons to George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
, and the use of his name, "Taro" as a schoolyard taunt for unintelligent children.
An anatomy professor from the University of Tokyo
University of Tokyo
, abbreviated as , is a major research university located in Tokyo, Japan. The University has 10 faculties with a total of around 30,000 students, 2,100 of whom are foreign. Its five campuses are in Hongō, Komaba, Kashiwa, Shirokane and Nakano. It is considered to be the most prestigious university...
, Takeshi Yoro, speculated that Aso could possibly suffer from dyslexia
Dyslexia
Dyslexia is a very broad term defining a learning disability that impairs a person's fluency or comprehension accuracy in being able to read, and which can manifest itself as a difficulty with phonological awareness, phonological decoding, orthographic coding, auditory short-term memory, or rapid...
.
Nonaka incident
In 2001, Aso, along with Hiromu NonakaHiromu Nonaka
is a Japanese LDP politician and former member of the House of Representatives. He is currently a lecturer at Heian Jogakuin University.He has held the following posts:...
, was among the LDP's chief candidates to succeed Yoshirō Mori
Yoshiro Mori
is a Japanese politician who served as the 85th and 86th Prime Minister of Japan starting at 5 April 2000 ending 26 April 2001. Described as having "the heart of a flea and the brain of a shark," he was an unpopular prime minister mainly remembered today for his many gaffes and situationally...
as prime minister of Japan. During a meeting of LDP leaders at which Nonaka was not present, Aso reportedly told the assembled group, "We are not going to let someone from the buraku become the prime minister, are we?". Aso's remark was apparently a reference to Nonaka's Burakumin
Burakumin
are a Japanese social minority group. The burakumin are one of the main minority groups in Japan, along with the Ainu of Hokkaidō, the Ryukyuans of Okinawa and Japanese residents of Korean and Chinese descent....
, a social minority group
Minority group
A minority is a sociological group within a demographic. The demographic could be based on many factors from ethnicity, gender, wealth, power, etc. The term extends to numerous situations, and civilizations within history, despite the misnomer of minorities associated with a numerical statistic...
in Japan, heritage.
Nonaka subsequently withdrew as a candidate. Aso eventually lost the appointment to Junichiro Koizumi
Junichiro Koizumi
is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2001 to 2006. He retired from politics when his term in parliament ended.Widely seen as a maverick leader of the Liberal Democratic Party , he became known as an economic reformer, focusing on Japan's government debt and the...
. Aso's comment about Nonaka's heritage was revealed in 2005. Aso denied that he had made the statement, but Hisaoki Kamei
Hisaoki Kamei
is a Japanese politician of People's New Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet . A native of Kanoashi District, Shimane and graduate of Gakushuin University, he ran unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives in 1971 as an independent...
, who was present at the 2001 meeting, stated in January 2009 that he had heard Aso say something, "to that effect." Nonaka said that he would "never forgive" Aso for the comment and went on to state that Aso was a "misery" to Japan.
Fondness for fine dining
In October 2008, the Japanese media reported that Aso dined-out or drank in restaurants and bars in luxury hotels almost nightly. When asked about it, Aso stated, "I won't change my style. Luckily I have my money and can afford it." Aso added that if he went anywhere else, he would have to be accompanied by security guards which would cause trouble.According to the Asahi Shimbun
Asahi Shimbun
The is the second most circulated out of the five national newspapers in Japan. Its circulation, which was 7.96 million for its morning edition and 3.1 million for its evening edition as of June 2010, was second behind that of Yomiuri Shimbun...
Aso dined-out or drank at bars 32 times in September 2008, mainly at exclusive hotels. Aso's predecessor, Yasuo Fukuda, dined-out only seven times in his first month in office. Both of the LDP's opposition parties have called Aso's frequent outings inappropriate. Aso's Chief Cabinet Secretary
Chief Cabinet Secretary
__notoc__The of Japan is a Minister of State who is responsible for directing the Cabinet Secretariat. The main function of Chief Cabinet Secretary is to coordinate the policies of ministries and agencies in the executive branch...
, Jun Matsumoto
Jun Matsumoto (politician)
is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet . A native of Yokohama, Kanagawa and graduate of Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, he worked at the Japanese pharmaceutical company SSP Co., Ltd. from 1974 to 1978 and then...
, commented on the issue by saying that Aso's frequent trips to restaurants, "is his lifestyle and philosophy, and I am not in a position to express my opinion. If only there were more appropriate places when considering security issues and not causing trouble for other customers."
Manga fan
Aso argues that embracing Japanese pop culture can be an important step to cultivating ties with other countries, hoping that manga will act as a bridge to the world. He is referred to as an OtakuOtaku
is a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests, particularly anime, manga or video games.- Etymology :Otaku is derived from a Japanese term for another's house or family , which is also used as an honorific second-person pronoun...
.
Aso has been a fan of manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
since childhood. He had his family send manga magazines from Japan while he was studying at Stanford University. In 2003, he described reading about 10 or 20 manga magazines every week (making up only part of Aso's voracious reading) and talked about his impression of various manga extemporaneously. In 2007, as Minister for Foreign Affairs
Minister for Foreign Affairs (Japan)
The of Japan is the Cabinet member responsible for Japanese foreign policy and the chief executive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.Since the end of the American occupation of Japan, the position has been one of the most powerful in the Cabinet, as Japan's economic interests have long relied on...
, he established the International Manga Award
International Manga Award
is an award established to encourage non-Japanese manga artists in 2007. This award was created by Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso, who proposed this award in a policy speech he gave in Tokyo's Akihabara district in 2006.-Winners:...
for non-Japanese manga artists
Mangaka
is the Japanese word for a comic artist or cartoonist. Outside of Japan, manga usually refers to a Japanese comic book and mangaka refers to the author of the manga, who is usually Japanese...
.
It was reported that Aso was seen reading the manga Rozen Maiden
Rozen Maiden
is a manga series created by Peach-Pit. The story centers on Jun Sakurada, a young hikikomori boy that forms a bond with Shinku, a living doll of the "Rozen Maiden" series, who was created by the mysterious dollmaker Rozen hundreds of years ago...
in Tokyo International Airport
Tokyo International Airport
, commonly known as , is one of the two primary airports that serve the Greater Tokyo Area in Japan. It is located in Ōta, Tokyo, south of Tokyo Station....
, which earned him the sobriquet
Sobriquet
A sobriquet is a nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another. It is usually a familiar name, distinct from a pseudonym assumed as a disguise, but a nickname which is familiar enough such that it can be used in place of a real name without the need of explanation...
"His Excellency Rozen". He admitted in an interview that he had read the manga; however, he said he did not remember whether he had read it in an airport.
Aso's candidacy for the position of Japanese Prime Minister actually caused share-value to rise among some manga publishers and companies related to the manga industry.
Religion
As a Roman Catholic, Aso belongs to the small minority of Japanese ChristiansChristianity in Japan
Christianity is a minority religion in Japan, with less than one percent claiming Christian belief or affiliation. Nearly all known traditional denominations of Christianity, including Roman Catholicism, Protestantism and Orthodox Christianity are represented in Japan today.The root of the Japanese...
; but he has not emphasized his religiosity. While Christians only account for around 1% of the Japanese, Aso is the seventh Christian prime minister of Japan, after Hara Kei, Takahashi Korekiyo
Takahashi Korekiyo
Viscount was a Japanese politician and the 20th Prime Minister of Japan from 13 November 1921 to 12 June 1922. He was known as an expert on finance during his political career.-Early life :...
, Masayoshi Ōhira
Masayoshi Ohira
was a Japanese politician and the 68th and 69th Prime Minister of Japan from December 7, 1978 to June 12, 1980. He is the most recent Japanese prime minister to die in office.He was born in present day Kan'onji, Kagawa and attended Hitotsubashi University....
, Ichirō Hatoyama
Ichiro Hatoyama
was a Japanese politician and the 52nd, 53rd and 54th Prime Minister of Japan, serving terms from December 10, 1954 through March 19, 1955, from then to November 22, 1955, and from then through December 23, 1956.-Personal life:...
, Tetsu Katayama
Tetsu Katayama
was a Japanese politician and the 46th Prime Minister from May 24, 1947 to March 10, 1948.- Early life :He was born in Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture, and attended Tokyo Imperial University. Raised in the Christian faith, he was strongly influenced by the Christian Socialism of Abe Isō...
, and his own grandfather Shigeru Yoshida
Shigeru Yoshida
, KCVO was a Japanese diplomat and politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1946 to 1947 and from 1948 to 1954.-Early life:...
.
On occasion of his 2009 new year visit to the Shinto Ise Shrine
Ise Shrine
is a Shinto shrine dedicated to goddess Amaterasu-ōmikami, located in the city of Ise in Mie prefecture, Japan. Officially known simply as , Ise Jingū is in fact a shrine complex composed of a large number of Shinto shrines centered on two main shrines, and ....
, Aso has publicly performed the hand-clapping in front of the shrine, stating later that he had "prayed for the good of the Japanese people".
Family tree
External links
- Official website
- Official website of Prime Minister of Japan and His Cabinet
- Prime Minister Taro Aso's address to the 63rd session of the United Nations General Assembly, September 25, 2008
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