Former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, who made significant achievements in both domestic and foreign policies with strong leadership, died at 101 on Friday.
While serving as prime minister for five years from 1982 under the slogan of "overall review of postwar politics," Nakasone accomplished administrative and fiscal reforms including the division and privatization of the Japanese National Railways and strengthening the Japan-U.S. relationship based on mutual trust between the leaders, creating an era of "Nakasone Politics."
Nakasone was born in May 1918 in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture. He won an overwhelming victory in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's presidential primary election in November 1982 following the announcement of the resignation of then Prime Minister Zenko Suzuki, becoming the nation's 71st prime minister.
To stop the bloating of administrative organizations, Nakasone called for the privatization of three public corporations. Japanese National Railways became the JR companies, the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation became NTT, and the Japan Tobacco and Salt Public Corporation into JT.
With the gain from the sale of NTT shares, public works budgets were increased in order to expand domestic demand so that the public could enjoy the benefits of privatization.
Nakasone set up a provisional council for education, which issued four reports to provide a plan for education reform. His efforts to achieve fundamental tax reform focusing on the introduction of sales tax did not bear fruit during his term in office, but led to the introduction of the consumption tax by the Cabinet of Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita, who succeeded Nakasone.
When it comes to foreign policies and national security, Nakasone stabilized Japan-South Korea and Japan-U.S. relations all at once by making a surprising visit to South Korea and visiting the United States soon after taking office.
With then U.S. President Ronald Reagan, Nakasone established a personal relationship of trust, known as the "Ron and Yasu" friendship, significantly increasing Japan's presence in the international community.
In December 1986, Nakasone decided to break the defense spending cap of 1 percent of gross national product, which had been decided by the Cabinet of Prime Minister Takeo Miki, in an effort to steadily develop the country's defense capabilities.
Nakasone regarded himself as a "president-like" prime minister, and adopted a political method dubbed "deliberative council politics," which featured a top-down decision-making process and put emphasis on his close aides, significantly influencing subsequent governments.
Nakasone was in office for 1,806 days until he resigned in November 1987.
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