Kakuei Tanaka

Kakuei Tanaka

Tanaka Kakuei (1918-1993) was the most controversial of the post-World War II prime ministers of Japan. As the leader of the largest faction in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) he dominated Japanese politics for many years.

Although Tanaka Kakuei served as prime minister for only two years, he was instrumental in bringing three successor prime ministers to office and ensuring that his predecessor stayed in office longer than any other prime minister. The only prime minister since World War I not to have attended a university, he served with distinction as the minister in three of the all-important economic ministries and may come to be seen as the author of the body of communication law which permitted Japan to slide so readily into the information age. He is pictured in the press as the ultimate corrupter, using money to manipulate rather than ideals to inspire Japanese politics. He was twice charged with accepting bribes, once acquitted, the second time convicted (with the sentence continually deferred, as it remained under appellate review up until his death in 1993). Nevertheless he was routinely re-elected to a Diet seat in every election after 1948, winning more votes than ever before after his bribery conviction.

Tanaka Kakuei was born on May 4, 1918, in the village of Futada of Niigata prefecture, known for its deep snows and utter poverty. He was the eldest son of a cattle dealer, Kakuji, and his wife, Fume. Childhood was difficult. Before reaching two years of age Tanaka had come close to death from diphtheria. Buried under snow sliding from an over-burdened roof, he had been saved from suffocation by his grandmother, who discovered him when a twig in her broom caught his lip, causing it to bleed, staining the snow and revealing his whereabouts. At the age of 16, after graduating from grammar school, he went to Tokyo to work at construction during the day and to study it at night at the Central Technical High School. He graduated and started his own construction business, but at the age of 20 he was drafted and sent to Manchuria as a cavalryman. He became ill with pleurisy and was returned to the home islands. The illness deepened and was re-diagnosed as tuberculosis, and for several months Tanaka was expected to die. Eventually, though, he recovered, was discharged from the army, and returned to construction work. Business flourished. By 1943 Tanaka's company was ranked among the nation's top 50 construction firms.

Tanaka married Sakamoto Hana, the daughter of a medium size construction company owner, with whom he had two children: a son, Masanori, born in 1942, and a daughter, Makiko, born in 1944. The son died at the age of six, but the daughter lived to become a member of the Diet.

Tanaka Enters Politics—Successfully

Tanaka's business success was predicated partly on working closely with government agencies. Early on he had been encouraged to fund one of the emerging political parties. He wrote of the immense task of reconstruction the Japanese nation faced after World War II. Tanaka, then, took only a short step when he decided to stand for election as a representative of the third district of Niigata. Tanaka lost in the 1946 election. He won in the 1947 election when he was 28 years of age. He won every subsequent election, serving until 1990.

His first post of significance came in 1948, when he was appointed parliamentary vice minister for the Justice Ministry under the second Yoshida cabinet. In 1952 he became head of the board of directors as well as dean of the Central Technical School where he had studied construction when he first came to Tokyo. He was 34 years old.

At age 36 he became the chairman of the standing committee on commerce in the House of Representatives. In 1957 he became the minister for posts and telecommunications in the first Kishi cabinet. He early recognized that the gathering and transmission of information was to be a key to future social organization. His interest in posts and telecommunications was to remain with him. He served as the finance minister under the second and third Ikeda cabinets and under the first Sato cabinet. He headed the Ministry for International Trade and Industry (MITI) under the third Sato cabinet. While MITI minister he put forward his plan for remodeling the Japanese archipelago, a far-reaching plan for raising standards of living in the rural areas, doing away with blight in the old cities, and establishing new industries in new cities and creating the transportation system to supply them. He authored, A proposal for remodeling the Japanese Archipelago.

The ability to command a ministry was just one of the talents Tanaka had to demonstrate. Another was to be able to persuade other politicians to accept his leadership. In 1955 the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) became the ruling party. While it was the ruling party its Dietmen served as the ministers and vice ministers; its party president served as the prime minister. Men who wished to become prime minister created factions. The maneuvering of these faction leaders—the building up and taking over of a faction, the making and breaking of factional alliances, the bargaining over posts, the collection and disbursement of political funds— constituted the heart of Japanese politics. In all these activities Tanaka excelled. Critics claim money generated his power. Historians will add two other sources: imagination and hard work.