Yoshio_Sakurauchi

Yoshio Sakurauchi

Yoshio Sakurauchi

Japanese politician (1912–2003)

Yoshio Sakurauchi (櫻内 義雄, Sakurauchi Yoshio, 8 May 1912 – 5 July 2003) was a Japanese politician and a significant member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). He was speaker of the House of Representatives of which he was a member for 53 years.

Quick Facts Speaker of the House of Representatives, Preceded by ...

Early life and education

Sakurauchi was born in Tokyo on 8 May 1912.[1] He was the son of Yukio Sakurauchi, a lower house member and finance minister.[2] Yoshio Sakurauchi attended the Keio schools from kindergarten through Keio University.[2] His brother, Kimio, served as president (from 1961) and chairman of the board of directors (from 1971) at Chugoku Electric.[3][4]

Career

Sakurauchi began his political career in 1947 when he was first elected to the lower house of Parliament.[5] His constituency included Kashima.[3] He served at the lower house for 18 terms. He was also once elected to the upper house,[5] serving there for 19 months.[2]

Sakurauchi held different ministerial and party posts in his career.[6] In addition, he was leader of the Kano faction in the LDP.[7] This faction was renamed as the Nakasone faction in 1965. His leadership of the faction lasted until 1989.[8] Then the faction was headed by Michio Watanabe.[8]

In addition, Sakurauchi served as foreign minister, agriculture minister, minister of international trade and industry and construction minister.[9] Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda appointed Sakurauchi the minister of international trade and industry on 18 July 1964.[7] Sakurauchi continued to serve in the same post in the next cabinet headed by Prime Minister Eisaku Satō, but he was fired and replaced by Miki Takeo in June 1965.[7] On 28 April 1977, Sakurauchi was appointed construction minister to the government of Takeo Fukuda in a cabinet reshuffle, replacing Shiro Hasegawa in the post.[10] Sakurauchi served as construction minister until 7 December 1978.[10]

Sakurauchi was appointed the secretary general of the LDP on 16 November 1979.[11] During his term, he called for making the Yasukuni Shrine a state shrine.[12] His term lasted until 30 November 1981 when he was named foreign minister. Susumu Nikaido replaced him as the secretary general of the LDP.[11] He was appointed foreign minister in the cabinet led by Prime Minister Zenkō Suzuki on 30 November 1981, replacing Sunao Sonoda in the post.[13][14]

Sakurachi also served as the head of the LDP's chief policy-making body.[9] In addition, he was appointed speaker of Japan's lower house of parliament on 27 February 1990, replacing Hajime Tamura in the post.[9][15] In January 1992, he argued that the United States' economic problems resulted from its work force since the US workers were "too lazy" to compete with Japan, and that nearly a third of its workers "cannot even read."[9][16] Sakurachi's term as speaker ended on 18 June 1993 and Takako Doi became the speaker.[15]

Besides these positions, Sakurauchi was named as the first chairman of the League for Japan-Vietnam Friendship that was established by Japanese and Vietnamese politicians in 1974 to promote mutual understanding and friendship between Japan and Vietnam.[17]

Sakurauchi was not included in the LDP's proportional representation list for the 25 June 2000 general elections, and he stated that he would retire from politics.[18] Eventually, he retired from politics in June 2000.[5]

Death and funeral

Sakurauchi died of respiratory failure at a Tokyo hospital on 5 July 2003.[19] He was 91.[5] His funeral service was held at Ikegami Hommonji Temple in Tokyo's Ota Ward on 8 July 2003.[2]

Honors

In 1986, Sakurauchi, a former board member of the Boy Scouts of Japan and President of the Scout Parliamentary Caucus, received the 185th Bronze Wolf Award of the World Scout Committee for services to world Scouting.[20][21] In 1981 he also received the highest distinction of the Scout Association of Japan, the Golden Pheasant Award.[22]

The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 1989, for his contributions to public affairs.[23]

References

  1. [1]
    "Index Sa". Rulers. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  2. [2]
    "Lawmakers Sakurauchi, Hino leave long legacies". The Japan Times. 7 July 2003. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  3. [3]
    Linda Sieg (24 May 2011). "Japan city grapples with nuclear doubts after Fukushima crisis". Reuters. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  4. [4]
    "桜内家（外務大臣・桜内義雄・桜内幸雄・桜内文城の家系図". keibatsugaku.com (in Japanese). 30 August 2018. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
  5. [5]
    "Yoshio Sakurauchi, 91, Japanese Lawmaker". Newsday. AP. 6 July 2003. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  6. [6]
    Kent E. Calder (1988). Crisis and Compensation: Public Policy and Political Stability in Japan, 1949 - 1986. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 275. ISBN 978-0-691-02338-0.
  7. [7]
    Chalmers Johnson (1982). MITI and the japanese miracle: growth of industrial policy: 1925-1975. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. p. 265. ISBN 978-0-8047-1206-4.
  8. [8]
    Steven Hunziker; Ikuro Kamimura. "Getting Rid of Kaifu". Kakuei Tanaka. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  9. [9]
    David E. Sanger (21 January 1992). "A Top Japanese Politician Calls U.S. Work Force Lazy". The New York Times. p. 1.
  10. [10]
    "Cabinet". Kolombus. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  11. [11]
    Political Chronology of Central, South and East Asia (1st ed.). London: Europa Publications. 2012. p. 2056. ISBN 978-1-135-35680-4.
  12. [12]
    Peter J. Herzog (1993). Japan's Pseudo-Democracy. Sandgate, Folkestone, Kent: Japan Library. p. 110. ISBN 978-1-873410-07-3.
  13. [13]
    "Japan's cabinet shuffled". Spokane Daily Chronicle. Tokyo. UPI. 30 November 1981. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  14. [14]
    Geoffrey Murray (1 December 1981). "Japanese Cabinet shaken up to tackle big problems". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
  15. [15]
    "The National Diet of Japan" (PDF). Secretariat of the House of Representatives. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 October 2013. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  16. [16]
    Julia Vitullo Martin; J. Robert Moskin (1994). The Executive's Book of Quotations. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 302. ISBN 978-0-19-507836-7.
  17. [17]
    Keiko Hirata (2001). "Cautious Proactivism and Reluctant Reactivism: Analyzing Japan's Foreign Policy toward Indochina" (PDF). In Y. Sato; A. Miyashita (eds.). Japan's Foreign Policy in Asia and the Pacific: Domestic Interests, American Pressure, and Regional Integration. New York: St. Martin's Press.
  18. [18]
    "Mori set to dissolve Diet for elections on June 25". The Japan Times. 2 June 2000.
  19. [19]
    "Lawmakers Sakurauchi, Hino leave long legacies". The Japan Times. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  20. [20]
    "17 Bronze Wolf Recipients from Japan". Yokohoma Group. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  21. [21]
    "List of recipients of the Bronze Wolf Award". World Scout Committee. 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  22. [22]
    䝪䞊䜲䝇䜹䜴䝖日本連盟 きじ章受章者 [Recipient of the Golden Pheasant Award of the Scout Association of Japan] (PDF) (in Japanese). Reinanzaka Scout Club. 23 May 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 August 2020.
  23. [23]
    "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs. 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 October 2015. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
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