How long was Takeo Fukuda prime minister of Japan?
Fukuda Doctrine
Takeo Fukuda was an expert in economics. He took on the role of an ‘economic prime minister’ under Miki's administration from 1974 to 1976. During this time, he established the Ministerial Conference on Economic Measures, enabling cross-ministry and agency talks on finance, wage and labor issues.
Fukuda subsequently became the 67th prime minister of Japan, lasting for only one term from 1976 to 1978. However, he was not forced out of office before he had gotten two major diplomatic reforms executed. Under Fukuda cabinet, Japan conducted an omnidirectional peace diplomacy, and signed Japan-China Treaty of Peace and Friendship in 1978. He pushed forward Japan's pacifistic position while making an effort to strengthen relations with Asian countries.
Tokyo International Conference on African Development
As TICAD-IV ended, plans were already being formulated for TICAD-V in June 2013. Prime Minister Fukuda Announced told delegates at TICAD-IV, "I pledge that by 2012-five years from now-Japan will have doubled its official development assistance (ODA) to Africa, increasing it gradually over these years." At the same time, Fukuda said his government would double its grand aid and technical cooperation for Africa by 2012.
Kan Cabinet
His government handled the response to the massive earthquake and tsunami in northeast Japan. The following nuclear accidents at private utility company TEPCO's nuclear power plant in Fukushima spurred the government to change the course of Japan's energy policy. Reversing the pro-nuclear policy of the previous administrations, Kan's government pushed for a conversion to renewable energy and eventual shut-down of Japan's nuclear plants. Japan's nuclear power plants were completely shut down by May 2012, leaving Japan without nuclear-generated electricity for the first time since 1970. Several of the plants were only brought back online after the DPJ was no longer in government. The LDP government led by Shinzo Abe gradually reopened the nuclear plants, starting with Sendai Nuclear Power Plant in Kyushu on August 2015. The restart has been slow due to legal challenges and heavy domestic opposition.
Kozo Yamamoto
The general election of 2009 saw both Takeda and Yamamoto vying for the LDP slot of Fukuoka's 11th precinct. Yamamoto ultimately took the PR spot for Kyushu, and even with the political turnaround of the Democratic Party of Japan winning 221 of 300 electoral districts, both Takeda and Yamamoto won their respective seats. In 2012, Yamamoto successfully ran under the LDP in the 10th precinct of Fukuoka. He continued his electoral success in the same precinct in 2014, and was appointed his ministerships in 2016.
History of Japanese foreign relations
Prince Katsura Tarō (1848 – 1913) was an unpopular prime minister in his three terms stretching off and on from 1901 to 1911. During his first term (1901-1906) Japan emerged as a major imperialist power in East Asia. In terms of foreign affairs, it was marked by the Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902 and victory over Russia in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. During his tenure, the Taft–Katsura agreement with the U.S. acknowledged Japanese hegemony over Korea. His second term (1908-1911) was noteworthy for the Japan–Korea Annexation Treaty of 1910.
The Japanese modelled their industrial economy closely on the most advanced European models. They started with textiles, railways, and shipping, expanding to electricity and machinery. the most serious weakness was a shortage of raw materials. Industry ran short of copper and coal became a net importer. A deep flaw in the aggressive military strategy was a heavy dependence on imports including 100 percent of the aluminum, 85 percent of the iron ore, and especially 79 percent of the oil supplies. it was one thing to go to war with China or Russia, but quite another to be in conflict with the key suppliers, especially the United States Britain and the Netherlands, which supply the oil and iron.
Yoshio Sakurauchi
In addition, he served as foreign minister, agriculture minister, minister of international trade and industry and construction minister. Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda appointed Sakurauchi the minister of international trade and industry on 18 July 1964. 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. 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. Sakurauchi served as construction minister until 7 December 1978.
Controversies surrounding Yasukuni Shrine
In the wake of Abe's first term, his successor Yasuo Fukuda vowed never to visit the shrine, a commitment applauded by Japan's Asian neighbors. Fukuda's open political opposition to the shrine led to improved relations with China, North and South Korea . However, a group of 62 Diet members from the Liberal Democratic Party and the People's New Party, including former farm minister Yoshinobu Shimamura and Eriko Yamatani, a special adviser to Fukuda, visited the shrine on April 22, 2008.
Fukuda Doctrine
The first period in the relationship between Japan and Southeast Asia, can be characterized by Shigeru Yoshida’s “Economic Diplomacy”, officially promulgated in 1957. The so-called “Yoshida Doctrine” put high priority on development and aimed at peaceful expansion of Japan's economic power in foreign markets, in order to rebuild the economy and raise the living standards of the Japanese population. As a part of this policy, Japan sought to improve ties with the Southeast Asian region. Reparations settlements between Japan and Southeast Asian countries played a significant role in such environment as they served as a tool which provided a ground for rebuilding of the relations, severed by Japanese aggression during the war. During this period, Japan paid reparations to Burma, Philippines, Indonesia, Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). Other than reparations in the strict sense, Japan also provided “quasi-reparations” in the form of grants and aid to Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore. This way, reparation payments paved the way for Japan's economic involvement in Southeast Asia, allowing it to pursue economic interest in the region.
Koenkai
The "koenkai" of Kakuei Tanaka (田中角栄 4 May 1918 – 16 December 1993)– Prime Minister of Japan from 1972 to 1974 – has been recognised as the one that boasted the most far-reaching influence of its kind in Japanese political history. Tanaka's "Etsuzankai" - literally translated into “cross the mountains of Niigata to get to Tokyo” – was based in the Third District of his hometown –Niigata Prefecture. By the 1970s, the number of people associating with "Etsuzenkai" reached an all-time high of 98,000 members, accounting for approximately 20% of Niigata's eligible voters. Among these were very powerful figures, including the 26 out of 33 mayors of Niigata's separate municipalities, and half the number of city councils and prefectural legislature officials. The organization also ran its own publication, called the "Monthly Etsuzan," whose circulation was over 50,000.
Politics of Japan
On 11 January 2008, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda forced a bill allowing ships to continue a refueling mission in the Indian Ocean in support of US-led operations in Afghanistan. To do so, PM Fukuda used the LDP's overwhelming majority in the Lower House to ignore a previous "no-vote" of the opposition-controlled Upper House. This was the first time in 50 years that the Lower House voted to ignore the opinion of the Upper House. Fukuda resigned suddenly on 1 September 2008, just a few weeks after reshuffling his cabinet. On 1 September 2008, Fukuda's resignation was designed so that the LDP did not suffer a "power vacuum". It thus caused a leadership election within the LDP, and the winner, Tarō Asō was chosen as the new party president and on 24 September 2008, he was appointed as 92nd Prime Minister after the House of Representatives voted in his favor in the extraordinary session of Diet.
Gunma Prefecture
Four modern prime ministers are from Gunma, namely, Takeo Fukuda, Yasuhiro Nakasone, Keizo Obuchi, and Yasuo Fukuda, the son of Takeo.
Fukuda Doctrine
Fukuda stated that even though Japan had the capability to rearm and to produce nuclear weapons, it steered clear of resurrecting its military past. Fukuda used article 9 of the 1946 constitution to reassert Japan's pacifist stance post-war. For the ASEAN nations and Southeast Asia as a whole, this statement served as a psychological reassurance to the memories of Japanese aggression in the second world war.
Shinzō Abe
Abe comes from a politically prominent family and was first elected Prime Minister by a special session of the National Diet in September 2006. Then aged 52, he became Japan's youngest post-war Prime Minister and the first to have been born after World War II. Abe resigned on 12 September 2007 for health reasons after his party lost the House of Councillors election that year. He was replaced by Yasuo Fukuda, the first in a series of five Prime Ministers who failed to retain office for more than sixteen months.
China–Japan relations
However, the "warm" relationship between the PRC and Japan had been revived by two Japanese Prime Ministers, Shinzo Abe and particularly Yasuo Fukuda whose father achieved to conclude the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the People's Republic of China. In May 2008, Hu Jintao was the first Chinese President in over a decade to be invited to Japan on an official visit, and called for increased "co-operation" between the two countries. A "forth" joint statement by President Hu and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda read:
"The two sides resolved to face history squarely, advance toward the future, and endeavor with persistence to create a new era of a "mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests" between Japan and China. They announced that they would align Japan–China relations with the trends of international community and together forge a bright future for the Asia-Pacific region and the world while deepening mutual understanding, building mutual trust, and expanding mutually beneficial cooperation between their nations in an ongoing fashion into the future".
In October 2008, Japanese Prime Minister Aso Taro visited Beijing to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the conclusion of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the People's Republic of China. At the reception, he remarked on his "personal conviction regarding Japan-China relations":
"We should not constrain ourselves in the name of friendship between Japan and China. Rather, sound competition and active cooperation will constitute a true "mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests." Confucius said, "At thirty, I stood firm." In the same way, Japan and China must now stand atop the international stage and work to spread to the rest of the world this spirit of benefiting together".
Although Japanese and Chinese policymakers claimed that "ice-breaking" and "ice-melting" occurred in the bilateral relationship between 2006 and 2010, however, none of the fundamental problems related to history and disputed territory had been resolved, and so there was a virtual "ice-berg" under the surface.
2010 Japanese House of Councillors election
On 11 June 2008, a non-binding censure motion was passed by parliament's opposition-controlled House of Councillors against then Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda. Filed by the DPJ and two other parties, it was the first censure motion against a prime minister under Japan's post-war constitution. Ahead of the G8 summit, it attacked his handling of domestic issues including an unpopular medical plan and called for a snap election or his resignation. On 12 June a motion of confidence was passed by the lower house's ruling coalition to counter the censure. Fukuda abruptly announced he was retiring as leader. Taro Aso won the subsequent election, which was held on 22 September 2008.
Hiroya Masuda
A native of Tokyo, he graduated from the University of Tokyo and served as governor of Iwate Prefecture from 1995 to 2007. While serving as Iwate's governor, Masuda developed a reputation as a reformist by cutting spending through personnel cuts and took the initiative in introducing an industrial waste tax system. Masuda was reappointed as Minister of Internal Affairs when Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda reshuffled the cabinet on August 1, 2008. In the Cabinet of Prime Minister Taro Aso, appointed on September 24, 2008, Masuda was replaced by Kunio Hatoyama.
Heisei period
After an election defeat, Prime Minister Shinzō Abe resigned suddenly, and in Autumn 2007 Yasuo Fukuda became Prime Minister. Fukuda in turn resigned on September 2008 citing political failings, and Tarō Asō was selected by his party.
National Diet of Japan Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission
Chain of command were disrupted amid the crisis which created confusion, while communication failures about critical decisions undermined trust between the different parties. The prime minister’s office waited too long to declare a state of emergency. TEPCO’s disaster-response manuals were out of date, missed key diagrams, while TEPCO was too slow to relay information to the government. The administration of then prime minister Naoto Kan hampered operations as the disaster unfolded, the report said, and did not use a logical chain of command. "The prime minister's office was supposed to contact the plant operator through an on-the-spot task force. But … issued direct instructions to TEPCO head office and the accident site, confusing the command line." Then-Prime Minister Naoto Kan traveled to the plant mid-meltdown and “diverted the attention and time of the on-site operational staff and confused the line of command,” the report said. “Had the head office of Tepco actively communicated the on-site situation from the start, and explained the severity of the situation to the other parties,” the report said, “there is a possibility that the distrust — and the confusion in the chain of command that followed — could have been prevented.”
Obuchi Cabinet
The Obuchi Cabinet governed Japan from July 1998 to April 2000 under the leadership of Prime Minister Keizō Obuchi, who took office after winning the Liberal Democratic Party leadership. Initially a purely LDP government, it expanded to become a coalition involving first the Liberal Party and then the New Komeito over the course of its term. The government focused on economic revival, with former Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa recalled to the position of Finance Minister, and introduced policies designed to stimulate the economy through tax cuts and public spending increases.
Koenkai
Suzuki Zenkō (鈴木 善幸, 11 January 1911 – 19 July 2004) was an influential Japanese politician for the LDP. He served as the 44th Prime Minister of Japan from 17 July 1980 to 27 November 1982. He was a member of the LDP from its establishment in 1955 until his death in 2004. Suzuki was elected to his seat in Iwate Prefecture on 12 consecutive occasions until his retirement from politics in 1990.
Mizuho Fukushima
Fukushima was also Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Food Safety, Social Affairs, and Gender Equality in Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's cabinet (16 September 2009 – 28 May 2010); the SDP was the junior partner in the DPJ-led government coalition. However, in May 2010 disagreements over the issue of the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma led to the sacking of Fukushima from the cabinet on Friday May 28, and the SDP subsequently voted to leave the ruling coalition.
Anti-nuclear power movement in Japan
On 12 March 2011, after the Fukushima disaster, Naoto Kan flew in a helicopter to observe the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant and was heavily involved in efforts to effectively respond to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Naoto Kan took an increasingly anti-nuclear stance in the months following the Fukushima disaster. In May, he ordered the aging Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant be closed over earthquake and tsunami fears, and he said he would freeze plans to build new reactors. In July 2011, Kan said that Japan must reduce its dependence on nuclear energy, breaking with a decades-old Japanese government drive to build more nuclear power plants in the country. "We must scrap the plan to have nuclear power contribute 53 percent (of electricity supply) by 2030 and reduce the degree of reliance on nuclear power," Kan told a government panel. Kan said Japan should abandon plans to build 14 new reactors by 2030. He wants to "pass a bill to promote renewable energy and questioned whether private companies should be running atomic plants". In 2012, Kan said the Fukushima disaster made it clear to him that "Japan needs to dramatically reduce its dependence on nuclear power, which supplied 30 percent of its electricity before the crisis, and has turned him into a believer of renewable energy". Kan announced his intention to resign on August 10, 2011.
List of Japanese prime ministers by longevity
The median age of a Prime Minister first taking office is 61 years and 2 months. This falls between Tomosaburō Katō and Keizō Obuchi. The youngest Prime Minister was the first, Hirobumi Itō, who took office at the age of 44 years, 67 days. The oldest Prime Minister to first take office was Kantarō Suzuki, who became Prime Minister at the age of 77 years, 79 days.
Kakuei Tanaka
Fukuda and Tanaka soon became the two battling heir apparents of Satō's faction, and their rivalry was dubbed by the Japanese press as the "Kaku-Fuku War." Despite the scandal, Tanaka made a record showing in the 1967 general election, and Satō re-appointed him as secretary general, moving Fukuda to the post of finance minister. In 1971, Satō gave Tanaka another important stepping stone to taking over the government: minister of international trade and industry (MITI).
Nuclear safety and security
In March 2012, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said that the Japanese government shared the blame for the Fukushima disaster, saying that officials had been blinded by an image of the country's technological infallibility and were "all too steeped in a safety myth."
Katsura Tarō
Katsura Tarō served as the 11th, 13th and 15th Prime Minister of Japan. He remains the longest-serving Prime Minister of Japan to date.
Nuclear power in Japan
The 10-member commission compiled its report based on more than 1,167 interviews and 900 hours of hearings. 
It was a six-month independent investigation, the first of its kind with wide-ranging subpoena powers in Japan's constitutional history, which held public hearings with former Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Tokyo Electric Power Co's former president Masataka Shimizu, who gave conflicting accounts of the disaster response. 
The commission chairman, Kiyoshi Kurokawa, declared with respect to the Fukushima nuclear incident: “It was a profoundly man-made disaster — that could and should have been foreseen and prevented.” 
He added that the "fundamental causes" of the disaster were rooted in "the ingrained conventions of Japanese culture." 
The report outlines errors and willful negligence at the plant before the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011 and a flawed response in the hours, days and weeks that followed. It also offers recommendations and encourages Japan's parliament to "thoroughly debate and deliberate" the suggestions.
Takeaki Matsumoto
Matsumoto is a great great grandson of Itō Hirobumi, the first Prime Minister of Japan. Matsumoto's father, Juro Matsumoto, was a senior member of the Liberal Democratic Party and was the Minister of Defense from August 1989 to February 1990. Matsumoto was selected as Foreign Minister of Japan in 2011 by Prime Minister Naoto Kan, after the resignation of his predecessor, Seiji Maehara, only two days before the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and subsequent Fukushima I nuclear disaster.
Tadashi Yamamoto
Yamamoto worked directly with numerous Prime Ministers of Japan and their administrations during his career as well. Yamamoto became the director of the Japan-US Economic Relations Group from 1979 to 1981, the US-Japan Advisory Commission fromn 1983 to 1984, and the Korea-Japan 21st Century Committee from 1988 until 1991. He was appointed to both the First and Second Prime Minister’s Private Council on International Cultural Exchange; the first Council from 1988 to 1989 and again during the Second Council from 1993 until 1994. Former Prime Minister Keizō Obuchi appointed Yamamoto as the executive director of the Prime Minister’s Commission on Japan’s Goals in the 21st Century from 1999 to 2000. In February 2010, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama named Yamamoto to a policy panel on defense issues.
Yasuo Fukuda
Following the resignation of Prime Minister Shinzō Abe, Fukuda was elected as President of the Liberal Democratic Party and became Prime Minister in September 2007. Fukuda was the first son of a former Japanese Prime Minister (Takeo Fukuda) to also take up the post.
Sunao Sonoda
On 17 May 1981, Sonoda was appointed by then prime minister and his close friend Zenko Suzuki as foreign minister for the last time due to unexpected resignation of the former foreign minister Masayoshi Ito. Sonoda called for adopting the omnidirectional diplomacy and unlike his two predecessors, issued entry visas to Soviet economic delegations. Sonoda was replaced by Yoshio Sakurauchi who was appointed foreign minister by prime minister Zenko Suzuki on 30 November 1981. The reason for Sonoda's removal from his post was his blunt remarks concerning U.S. policies in June 1981 as well as his other statements detrimental to Japan's relations with South Korea.
Japan's non-nuclear weapons policy
Fukuda was not forced to resign; Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi described his remarks as "simply an observation that any basic policy of a country can be reviewed" and insists that his government has no intention of reviewing the principles. Koizumi continues to reaffirm the principles in each of his addresses for the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Peace Memorial Ceremonies.
2012 Japanese general election
The LDP had governed Japan for all but three years since 1955. However, in the 2009 election, the LDP suffered the worst defeat of a sitting government in modern Japanese history. Due to the characteristics of the Japanese election system, DPJ candidates won 308 seats in the House of Representatives (64.2% of seats), enabling Yukio Hatoyama to become prime minister. Since then, Japan has had two other prime ministers, Naoto Kan and Yoshihiko Noda. On 16 November, Noda dissolved parliament, thus allowing for a new election in a month's time. He cited the lack of funds to carry on the functions of government and the need for an emergency budget.
Takeo Spikes
He was named after Japan's 41st Prime Minister Takeo Miki after Spikes' parents saw a news report. Miki's successor, who was appointed the nation's 42th Prime Minister on December 24, 1976, a week after Takeo was born, was also a Takeo (Fukuda). Takeo's younger cousin Brandon Spikes is currently a free agent.
Fukushiro Nukaga
He was appointed Minister of Finance by Prime Minister Shinzō Abe in a cabinet reshuffle on 27 August 2007. Following Abe's resignation on 12 September, Nukaga initially said that he would run for the position of LDP president (and thus Prime Minister) on 13 September, but, on 14 September, after meeting with Yasuo Fukuda, Nukaga announced that he would back Fukuda for the leadership. Following Fukuda's victory in the leadership election, Nukuga remained as Finance Minister in Fukuda's Cabinet, sworn in on 26 September 2007. He was replaced in that post by Bunmei Ibuki on 1 August 2008. Nukaga is affiliated to the openly revisionist lobby Nippon Kaigi, that advocates a revision of the Constitution to restore the monarchy and militarism.
Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)
At the apex of the LDP's formal organization is the , who can serve three three-year terms (The presidential term was increased from two years to three years in 2002, and from two to three terms in 2017). When the party has a parliamentary majority, the party president is the prime minister. The choice of party president is formally that of a party convention composed of Diet members and local LDP figures, but in most cases, they merely approved the joint decision of the most powerful party leaders. To make the system more democratic, Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda introduced a "primary" system in 1978, which opened the balloting to some 1.5 million LDP members. The process was so costly and acrimonious, however, that it was subsequently abandoned in favor of the old "smoke-filled room" method — so-called in allusion to the notion of closed discussions held in small rooms filled with tobacco smoke.
Yasuo Fukuda
Fukuda was considered a contender for the leadership of the LDP in 2006, but, on 21 July, he decided that he would not seek the nomination. Instead, Shinzō Abe succeeded Junichirō Koizumi as leader of the LDP and Prime Minister of Japan. One of his most noted policy goals is to end prime ministerial visits to Yasukuni Shrine. In June 2006, Fukuda joined 134 other lawmakers in proposing a secular alternative to the shrine, citing constitutional concerns.
History of Japan
Emperor Akihito's reign began upon the death of his father, Emperor Hirohito. The economic bubble popped in 1989, and stock and land prices plunged as Japan entered a deflationary spiral. Banks found themselves saddled with insurmountable debts that hindered economic recovery. Stagnation worsened as the birthrate declined far below replacement level. The 1990s are often referred to as Japan's Lost Decade. Economic performance was frequently poor in the following decades and the stock market never returned to its pre-1989 highs. Japan's system of lifetime employment largely collapsed and unemployment rates rose. The faltering economy and several corruption scandals weakened the LDP's dominant political position. Japan was nevertheless governed by non-LDP prime ministers only in 1993–96 and 2009–12.
Takeo Miki
After being elected, Miki attempted to reform the LDP, relentlessly investigating the Lockheed bribery scandals, which made him a large number of enemies within the party. A campaign literally called "Down with Miki" ("Miki oroshi") was started by influential faction leaders. Despite Miki's personal popularity with the public, the Lockheed scandal reflected poorly on the party, which lost its overall majority in the 1976 election to the Diet and had to make deals with minor parties to remain in power. Embarrassed by the result, Miki resigned and was succeeded on 24 December 1976, by Takeo Fukuda.
Anti-nuclear power movement in Japan
Mizuho Fukushima is the leader of the Social Democratic Party of Japan, which has an anti-nuclear platform, and she has been referred to as a prominent anti-nuclear activist. For three decades, she was at the forefront of an often futile fight against the utilities that operated Japan's nuclear reactors, the corporations that built them and the bureaucrats who enabled them. That situation changed with the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in March 2011.
Shigeru Yoshida
, KCVO (22 September 1878 – 20 October 1967) was a Japanese diplomat and politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1946 to 1947 and from 1948 to 1954, becoming one of the longest serving PMs in Japanese history as the second-longest serving Prime Minister of Post-occupation Japan.
2017 Tokyo prefectural election
LDP leader Shinzo Abe took office as Prime Minister following the 2012 general election and strengthened his position in the 2014 general election. However, Abe's government was subsequently struck by criticism for its handling of the Moritomo Gakuen scandal and controversial remarks by Defense Minister Tomomi Inada. In the meantime, Yuriko Koike won the 2016 Tokyo gubernatorial election as an independent candidate, and left the LDP in June 2017 to found a new local political party, Tomin First, to challenge the LDP in the prefectural election. At the time of the election, Koike was widely believed to be eyeing a future bid to replace Abe as prime minister.
Nuclear power phase-out
Following the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, Germany has permanently shut down eight of its 17 reactors and pledged to close the rest by the end of 2022. Italy voted overwhelmingly to keep their country non-nuclear. Switzerland and Spain have banned the construction of new reactors. Japan’s prime minister has called for a dramatic reduction in Japan’s reliance on nuclear power. Taiwan’s president did the same. Shinzō Abe, the prime minister of Japan since December 2012, announced a plan to re-start some of the 54 Japanese nuclear power plants (NPPs) and to continue some NPP sites under construction.
Fukuda Doctrine
This was later highlighted in ASEAN Chairman's Statement on the ASEAN Post Ministerial Conferences (PMC) + 1 Sessions in Singapore in 2008. It read; “The Meeting welcomed the “New Fukuda Doctrine,” in which Prime Minister of Japan Yasuo Fukuda declared that ASEAN and Japan would be partners thinking together, acting together and sharing a future vision.” Other than diplomats, journalists and scholars also made reference to the Doctrine in major conferences held in Japan and Southeast Asia in 2007, to mark the 30th anniversary for the doctrine.
Kan Cabinet
The Kan Cabinet was the cabinet governing Japan from June 2010 to September 2011 under the leadership of Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who came into power after winning the DPJ presidential election in June 2010. The Kan Cabinet oversaw the response to the aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and the scaling-down of Japan's nuclear energy dependence following the nuclear disaster at TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Politics of Japan
The election was held on 14 December 2014, and the results were in the favor of LDP and its ally New Komeito. Together they managed to secure a huge majority by winning 325 seats for the Lower House. The opposition, DPJ, could not manage to provide the alternatives to the voters with its policies and programs. "Abenomics", the ambitious self-titled fiscal policy of the current prime minister, managed to attract more voters in this election, many Japanese voters supported the policies. Shinzō Abe was sworn as the 97th prime minister on 24 December 2014 and would like go ahead with his agenda of economic revitalization and structural reforms in Japan.
Fukuda Doctrine
References to the Doctrine are still being made. The son of Fukuda Takeo, Fukuda Yasuo, made a reference to it when he became Prime Minister in 2007. Although he did not update the Doctrine as anticipated, he declared that ASEAN and Japan would be ”partners thinking together, acting together and sharing a future vision.”
Politics of Japan
In an undesired move, Noda dissolved the lower house on 16 November 2012 (as he fails to get support outside the Diet on various domestic issues i.e. tax, nuclear energy) and elections were held on 16 December. The results were in the favor of LDP, which won absolute majority in the leadership of former Prime Minister Shinzō Abe. He was appointed as the 96th Prime Minister of Japan on 26 December 2012. With the changing political situation, earlier in November 2014, Prime Minister Abe called for fresh mandate for the Lower House. In an opinion poll the government failed to win the public trust due to bad economic achievements in the two consecutive quarters and on the tax reforms.
Japanese reaction to Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster
In October 2011, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said the government will spend at least 1 trillion yen ($13 billion) to clean up vast areas contaminated by radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Japan "faces the prospect of removing and disposing 29 million cubic meters of soil from a sprawling area in Fukushima, located 240 kilometers (150 miles) northeast of Tokyo, and four nearby prefectures".
Katsura Tarō
Katsura became Prime Minister for the first time on June 2, 1901, and he retained the office for four and a half years to January 7, 1906, which was then a record in Japan. Japan emerged as a major imperialist power in East Asia. In terms of foreign affairs, it was marked by the Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902 and victory over the Russian Empire in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. During his tenure, the Taft–Katsura agreement, accepting Japanese hegemony over Korea, was reached with the United States. Katsura received the Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George from British King Edward VII and was elevated to the rank of marquess by Emperor Meiji.
Yoshimi Watanabe
He was tapped by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to lead an administrative reform commission studying the potential for implementing the "dōshūsei" federal government system in Japan, and served in this capacity from 2006 to 2007. From August 2007 to August 2008, Cabinet of Yasuo Fukuda served as Minister in charge of financial services and Minister in charge of administrative reform,he urged the U.S. government to use public funds to solve the deepening subprime mortgage crisis, stating that "if there is a big hole in the bottom of the tub, no matter how much hot water you keep adding, you will never have enough hot water."
Tarō Asō
Later on the same day as his election as Prime Minister, Asō personally announced his new Cabinet (this is normally done by the Chief Cabinet Secretary). His 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.
India–Japan relations
In November 2016, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a three-day visit to Japan signed a deal with his counterpart Shinzo Abe on nuclear energy. The deal took six years to negotiate, delayed in part by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. This is the first time that Japan signed such deal with a non-signatory of Non-Proliferation Treaty. The deal gives Japan the right to supply nuclear reactors, fuel and technology, to India. This deal aimed to help India build the six nuclear reactors planned in Delhi, to be completed by 2032.
Japan's non-nuclear weapons policy
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) President Eisaku Satō was elected Prime Minister in December 1964 (only a month after China revealed its nuclear weapons capability with a test explosion). Although privately supportive of Japanese nuclearization, circumstances led Prime Minister Satō to first articulate the now-standard Three Non-Nuclear Principles, and he is remembered for his contributions to non-proliferation. Most significantly, he was determined to reacquire the island of Okinawa from U.S. occupation. Frustrated by strong public sentiment against the U.S. nuclear presence there, Satō struck a deal with the Johnson Administration, exchanging control of Okinawa for Japan's entry into the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Yasuo Fukuda
Fukuda received a great deal of support in his bid, including that of the LDP's largest faction, led by Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura, of which Fukuda is a member. Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga, who initially had intended to run for the leadership, also backed Fukuda. Fukuda's only competitor for the leadership, Tarō Asō, publicly acknowledged the likelihood of his own defeat a week before the election.
Fukuda Doctrine
Prime Minister Fukuda pledged that Japan, a country committed to peace, would never become a military power and that Japan would build up a relationship of mutual confidence and trust with Southeast Asian countries in wide-ranging fields, and that Japan would cooperate positively with ASEAN and its member countries in their own efforts, as an equal partner. The Fukuda Doctrine serves as the foundation of Japan's current and future diplomacy toward the rest of Asia.
Takao Fujinami
When the Nakasone government began in 1982, Fujinami was given the post of deputy chief Cabinet secretary before becoming chief Cabinet secretary in 1983. Fujinami was seen as a prospective prime minister while serving in the post of chief Cabinet secretary from 1983 to 1985, under Prime Minister Nakasone. During his two years as chief Cabinet secretary, he helped promote Nakasone's policies, including his official visit to Yasukuni Shrine and the cancellation of the cap on Japan's defense budget of one percent of the gross national product. He also helped with Nakasone's administrative reforms, including the privatization of telephone operation and tobacco businesses.
2008 Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) leadership election
A leadership election was held in the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan on 22 September 2008 after the incumbent party leader and Prime Minister of Japan Yasuo Fukuda announced that he would resign on 1 September 2008, only 11 months after taking office on 25 September 2007 following a leadership election on 23 September 2007. Taro Aso, who had lost to Fukuda in the 2007 leadership election, was widely seen as the frontrunner to replace him, and announced on 2 September 2008 he was ready to take over as party leader. Aso won the leadership election against four opponents, receiving 67% of the vote.
Second Abe Cabinet
The Second Abe Cabinet governed Japan under the leadership of Prime Minister Shinzō Abe from December 2012 to December 2014. Following the return to power of the LDP in the 2012 general election, Abe, as party president, was elected Prime Minister by the National Diet on December 26, 2012, and presented his cabinet for swearing in by the Emperor later that day. Abe formed a coalition with the New Komeito Party, which has partnered with the LDP since the late 1990s, appointing former leader Akihiro Ota as Minister of Land. Together the two parties controlled a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives, allowing the new government in most matters to override the veto of the upper house which was controlled by the opposition parties until July 2013.
Politics of Japan
On 2 June 2010, Hatoyama resigned due to lack of fulfillments of his policies, both domestically and internationally and soon after, on 8 June, Akihito, Emperor of Japan ceremonially swore in the newly elected DPJ's president, Naoto Kan as prime minister. Kan suffered an early setback in the Japanese House of Councillors election, 2010. In a routine political change in Japan, DPJ’s new president and former finance minister of Naoto Kan’s cabinet, Yoshihiko Noda was cleared and elected by the Diet as 95th prime minister on 30 August 2011. He was officially appointed as prime minister in the attestation ceremony at imperial palace on 2 September 2011.
Junichiro Koizumi
Koizumi had been a proponent of nuclear power throughout his term as prime minister, and was one of the first pro-nuclear politicians to change his stance on the issue in the wake of the Fukushima disaster of 2011. His dramatic remarks were widely covered in the Japanese media, with some tabloids speculating that he may break away from the LDP to form a new party with his son Shinjiro. Economy Minister Akira Amari characterized Koizumi's stance as pure but simplistic, while other LDP administration officials downplayed the potential impact of Koizumi's views. Former prime minister Naoto Kan, however, expressed hope that Koizumi's status as then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's "boss" would help put pressure on the government to minimize or eliminate nuclear power in Japan.
Fukuda Hideko
Fukuda's last years were spent in poverty and hardship. Ishikawa moved to Belgium and shortly afterwards Fukuda contracted beriberi. Nevertheless, she continued writing and had her article "The Solution to the Woman Question" printed in Seito, a popular women's rights magazine. Inclusion of Fukuda's article caused the entire issue to be banned. The government was especially sensitive to Fukuda's article because it not only focused on women, but brought in issues of class. Fukuda saw the difficulties faced by women as intrinsically tied to the exploitative capitalist system in place, and yearned for a return to an agrarian-modeled society. The article also spurred intense debate within the Seito group, composed primarily of educated young women. Fukuda moved beyond the goals of many other prominent feminists by discussing the plight of the labor class and impoverished in Japan. Fukuda saw the issue of gender inequality as intrinsically tied in with class inequality, saying "along with the liberation of women, the liberation of men, too, must be accomplished." Fukuda's article pushed for an encompassing discussion of equality as a societal issue over the more personal approach taken by other leading feminists of the day. She was one of the pioneers of reform movements in Japan, and pursued reforms in the Meiji period longer than any other woman.
Shinzō Abe
On 12 September 2007, only three days after a new parliamentary session had begun, Abe announced his intention to resign his position as prime minister at an unscheduled press conference. Abe said his unpopularity was hindering the passage of an anti-terrorism law, involving among other things Japan's continued military presence in Afghanistan. Party officials also said the embattled prime minister was suffering from poor health. On 26 September 2007 Abe officially ended his term as Yasuo Fukuda became the new prime minister of Japan.
Fukuda Doctrine
This approach to foreign policy in a sense was intended to establish a ‘political coordination’ between Japan and ASEAN as a regional actor. Fukuda had warned, in the area of trade, it was not in Japan's interest to form an exclusivist economic bloc with ASEAN. The Prime Minister's warning in effect functioned as a switch to a ‘political role’ in ASEAN and Indochina from its conventional practice of providing economic assistance. Moreover, by forging close diplomatic ties, what Sueo Sudo calls a ‘special relationship,’ with the organization through the use of FDI, ODA and other financial aids, Japan would try to establish a greater role for itself in the development of ASEAN region. Fukuda further implied Japan's responsibility in the region and its larger role as a world leader by acting as an informant on current developments in international issues that could directly affect member nations.
Kakuei Tanaka
Under Ikeda's cabinet, Tanaka became chairman of the Policy Affairs Research Council, and eventually Minister of Finance. Tanaka's term as minister of finance saw some of the highest economic growth in Japanese history. When Satō became prime minister in 1965, Tanaka was slated to become the LDP's new secretary general, but the emergence of the Black Mist Scandal, where Tanaka was accused of shady land deals in Tokyo, meant that Takeo Fukuda got the job instead.
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster
On 16 December 2012, Japan held its general election. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) had a clear victory, with Shinzō Abe as the new Prime Minister. Abe supported nuclear power, saying that leaving the plants closed was costing the country 4 trillion yen per year in higher costs. The comment came after Junichiro Koizumi, who chose Abe to succeed him as premier, made a recent statement to urge the government to take a stance against using nuclear power. A survey on local mayors by the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper in January 2013 found that most of them from cities hosting nuclear plants would agree to restarting the reactors, provided the government could guarantee their safety. More than 30,000 people marched on 2 June 2013, in Tokyo against restarting nuclear power plants. Marchers had gathered more than 8 million petition signatures opposing nuclear power.
Japan Airlines Flight 472 (1977)
On 1 October 1977 Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda had announced that the Japanese government would accept the hijackers' demands, on the principle that "the life of a single person outweighs the earth." Six of the imprisoned JRA members were however released after prison terms.https://www.thedailystar.net/country/japan-honours-ex-air-chief-mahmud-1398322
Democratic Liberal Party (Japan)
As a result of the DLP's attempts to block Yamazaki Takeshi from forming a new government after Hitoshi Ashida resigned as Prime Minister, the party's Shigeru Yoshida became Prime Minister in October 1948 and early elections were called in January 1949. The DLP won a landslide victory, taking 269 of the 466 seats, the first time a party had held a majority of seats since World War II. Shigeru Yoshida continued as Prime Minister.
Eriko Fukuda
A year later, Fukuda was handpicked by Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) party leader Ichirō Ozawa in a party attempt to appeal to voters who were tired of longtime Liberal Democratic Party rule. She won the election against Fumio Kyūma, who had represented Nagasaki in the House of Representatives for 30 years, 50.4% to 44.3%. Shortly before the 2012 elections, Fukuda jumped from the DPJ to the Tomorrow Party of Japan, then to the Green Wind party. After losing her seat in the election, she retired from politics to start a family with her husband, whom she married six months prior.
Takeo Fukuda
Fukuda was elected party secretary in 1957 and served as Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (1959–69), Minister of Finance (1969–71), Minister of Foreign Affairs (1971–73), and Director of the Economic Planning Agency (1974–76). He was a candidate for prime minister in 1972 but lost to Kakuei Tanaka.
Post-occupation Japan
Nakasone Yasuhiro, a conservative backed by the still-powerful Tanaka and Suzuki factions who once served as director general of the Defense Agency, became prime minister in November 1982. In November 1984, Nakasone was chosen for a second term as LDP president. His cabinet received an unusually high rating, a 50% favorable response in polling during his first term, while opposition parties reached a new low in popular support. As he moved into his second term, Nakasone thus held a strong position in the Diet and the nation. Despite being found guilty of bribery in 1983, Tanaka in the early-to-mid-1980s remained a power behind the scenes through his control of the party's informal apparatus, and he continued as an influential adviser to the more internationally minded Nakasone. The end of Nakasone's tenure as prime minister in October 1987 (his second two-year term had been extended for one year) was a momentous point in modern Japanese history. Just fifteen months
before Nakasone's retirement, the LDP unexpectedly had won its largest majority ever in the House of Representatives by securing 304 out of the 512 seats. The government was faced with growing crises. Land prices were rapidly increasing due to the Japanese asset price bubble, inflation increased at the highest rate since 1975, unemployment reached a record high at 3.2%, bankruptcies were rife, and there was political rancor over LDP-proposed tax reform. In the summer of 1987, economic indicators showed signs of recovery, but on October 20, 1987, the same day Nakasone officially named his successor, Takeshita Noboru, the Tokyo Stock Market crashed. Japan's economy and its political system had reached a watershed in their postwar development that would continue to play out into the 1990s.
Eisaku Satō
After three terms as prime minister, Satō decided not to run for a fourth. His heir apparent, Takeo Fukuda, won the Sato faction's support in the subsequent Diet elections, but the more popular MITI minister, Kakuei Tanaka, won the vote, ending the Satō faction's dominance.
Prime Minister of Japan
To date, 62 people have served this position. The current Prime Minister is Shinzō Abe, who re-took office on December 26, 2012. He is the first former Prime Minister to return to office since 1948, and the 5th longest serving Prime Minister to date.
Hisashi Owada
Returning to Japan, Owada was chosen to accompany Emperor Hirohito on his first postwar trip outside Japan to Europe. From 1976 to 1978, he served as Private Secretary to Takeo Fukuda, the Prime Minister of Japan.
Koenkai
Takeshita Noboru (竹下 登, 26 February 1924 - 19 June 2000) was an LDP career politician and the 74th Prime Minister of Japan between 1987 to 1989. Throughout his life in politics, Takeshita was known for the large behind-the-scenes influence he held over Japanese politics, leading to him being informally bestowed the mantle of the ‘last shadow shogun'. Takeshita's political base was founded in Shimane Prefecture, where he held a seat in the House of Representatives between 1958 and 2000. In total, Takeshita was consecutively re-elected to this seat fourteen times.
Takeo Fukuda
Fukuda died of chronic emphysema in the hospital of Tokyo Women's Medical College on 5 July 1995 at the age of 90.
Yasuo Fukuda
In the election, on 23 September, he defeated Aso, receiving 330 votes against Aso's 197. Fukuda was formally elected as Japan's 91st prime minister on 25 September. He received 338 votes, almost 100 more than necessary for a majority, in the House of Representatives; although the House of Councillors (the upper house), led by the opposition Democratic Party, elected Ichirō Ozawa over Fukuda by a margin of 133 to 106. This deadlock was then resolved in favor of the lower house's choice, according to Article 67 of the Constitution.
Fukuda Hideko
Soon after arriving in Tokyo she met Oi Kentaro, the leader of a radical wing of the Liberal Party. The group was an offshoot of the Freedom and People's Rights Movement that was sweeping across the nation. Fukuda would join the group in attempting to transport weapons and money to Korea. Their goal was to create a disturbance large enough to undo the Sino-Japanese accord signed in 1885. Both Fukuda and Kentaro were angered at the government's perceived lack of action in Korea. They hoped that inciting reform movements there would either push the Japanese government into following suit or initiate a war, giving the liberals an opportunity to make domestic reforms. Fukuda helped raise funds for the Korean Revolutionary Movement, but she was frustrated by the lack of discipline and habit of many of the male members to go visit brothels, which delayed the group's acquisition of supplies. However, eventually they succeeded in raising enough money and gathering weaponry, including guns and bombs. The party then traveled to Nagasaki on November 20th, 1885, from where they planned to depart for Korea. However, the police had already been investigating the large number of robberies in the Osaka area caused by the group, and before the party could travel to Seoul, on November 23, 1885 the roughly 130 members were arrested and charged with the illegal possession of weapons and encouraging riots. Fukuda, the only female included in the trial, was given a sentence of eighteen months, but was released after ten months.
Mizuho Fukushima
and was the head of the Social Democratic Party of Japan (SDP), from 2003 to 2013.
2007 Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) leadership election
Aso conceded on 16 September 2007 that he was unlikely to win the race and stated he was primarily continuing as a candidate to give party members a choice. Fukuda had by that date gathered the official support of eight factions of the LDP, all except Aso's own faction; he furthermore stated he would not visit the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, and proposed the construction of a secular national memorial facility instead. Aso stated that there could be no replacement for the shrine, but did not state whether he would visit the shrine if elected. Fukuda struck a more conciliatory tone in relation to the North Korean abduction issue, while Aso positioned himself as a hardliner.
Yasuo Fukuda
On 11 June 2008, a non-binding censure motion was passed by parliament's opposition-controlled upper house against Yasuo Fukuda. Filed by the Democratic Party of Japan and two other parties, it was the first censure motion against a prime minister under Japan's post-war constitution. Ahead of the G8 summit, it attacked his handling of domestic issues including an unpopular medical plan and called for a snap election or his resignation. 
On 12 June, a motion of confidence was passed by the lower house's ruling coalition to counter the censure.
2018 Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) leadership election
Abe's victory effectively hands him three more years as prime minister, giving him the chance of breaking the record for the nation's longest-serving prime ministership held by Taro Katsura, a revered politician who served three times between 1901 and 1913.
Noda Cabinet
The previous Prime Minister and DPJ president, Naoto Kan resigned on 26 August 2011 after the passage of the second extra budget for 2011. Kan's resignation triggered a DPJ presidential election, which was won by Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda. On 2 September, Noda was formally appointed by the Emperor as the Japan's 95th Prime Minister.
List of Prime Ministers of Japan
(*) The table only includes PMs who have cumulatively served 2 years (730 days) or more. A fully detailed list is available at List of Japanese prime ministers by longevity.As of 2022, eleven former Prime Ministers of Japan are alive. The most recent death of a former Prime Minister of Japan is that of Tsutomu Hata (1994) on August 28, 2017. Shinzō Abe, who served as Prime Minister from 2006 to 2007, is currently serving (since 2012) and thus is not included on this list.
2017 Japanese general election
Despite being disrupted by Typhoon Lan, the election saw a slight increase in turnout rate of 53.68 percent but still was the second lowest in postwar Japan. The lowest ever turnout was recorded in 2014. It was also the first election after the voting age was lowered from 20 to 18. Abe also became the first Prime Minister to win three consecutive general elections since 1953 and the first LDP leader to do that. He is also set to be the longest serving Prime Minister if he finishes his full term of four years.
Yukihiko Ikeda
Ikeda's second tenure as foreign minister was from 11 January 1996 to 11 September 1997 in the coalition government headed by the LDP politician Ryutaro Hashimoto. Ikeda replaced Yōhei Kōno as foreign minister. Upon the construction of a wharf facility in Takeshima/Dokdo by the South Korean government at the beginning of 1996, Ikeda protested over the construction and demanded that the South Korean government should stop it. His remarks led to angry public demonstrations in Seoul. He led Japan's attempts to solve the hostage crisis in Peru in the 1990s. Ikeda was replaced by Keizō Obuchi as foreign minister on 11 September 1997.
Yūko Obuchi
On September 24, 2008, Obuchi and Shinjirō Koizumi was appointed Minister of State for Social Affairs and Gender Equality in the cabinet of Prime Minister Tarō Asō. This made her Japan's youngest cabinet member in the post-war era. Her party was out of office from September, 2009 until December 2012. In December 2012, she was appointed Vice Minister of Finance by the new Prime Minister Shinzō Abe, and on 3 September 2014, she was made Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry in Abe's cabinet. As such, she became the minister responsible for the nuclear industry in Japan, with partial responsibility for the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster clean-up.
Yasuo Fukuda
The resignation led to another leadership election within the LDP. Tarō Asō was viewed as the likely front-runner to replace Fukuda, and was elected a week later. His popularity was hit by a controversial medical plan for elderly people, falling below 30% at one stage. He said:Today, I have decided to resign. We need a new line-up to cope with a new session of parliament. My decision is based on what I thought the future political situation ought to be. The Democratic Party has tried to stall every bill so it has taken a long time to implement any policies. For the sake of the Japanese people, this should not be repeated. If we are to prioritize the people's livelihoods, there cannot be a political vacuum from political bargaining, or a lapse in policies. We need a new team to carry out policies.
Fumio Ueda
He was first elected in 2003 with the support of the Democratic Party of Japan and RENGO after an unsuccessful run in the same year prior to being elected. His main policy goal was to reduce the city's municipal debt, and he managed to achieve a reduction in the debt from 2.2 trillion yen in 2003 to 1.7 trillion yen at the end of fiscal year 2014. In 2014, at the age of 66, he decided not to run for a fourth term. He was rumored to be a candidate for the Hokkaido gubernatorial election in 2015, but declined to run. He was succeeded in 2015 by his deputy Katsuhiro Akimoto, who was supported by most of Ueda's historical electoral base.
Kakuei Tanaka
Although Satō wanted Fukuda to become the next prime minister, Tanaka's popularity, along with support from the factions of Yasuhiro Nakasone and Masayoshi Ōhira, gave him a 282-190 victory over Fukuda in the LDP's 1971 party president election. He entered the office with the highest popularity rating of any new premier in Japanese history.
Taxation in Japan
The Democratic Party of Japan came to power in the August 2009 elections with a promise not to raise the consumption tax for four years. The first DPJ prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama was opposed, but Naoto Kan replaced him and called for the consumption tax to be raised. The following prime minister, Yoshihiko Noda "staked his political life" on raising the tax. Despite an internal battle that saw former DPJ leader and co-founder Ichirō Ozawa and many other DPJ diet members vote against the bill and then leave the party, in June 26, 2012, the lower house of the Japanese diet passed a bill to double the tax to 10%. The new bill increased the tax to 8% in April 2014 and 10% in October 2015. However, due to Japan's economic situation, the Abe government delayed the tax increase to 10% twice; initially until April 2017 and then October 2019.
Fukuda Doctrine
The Doctrine continues to be significant for Japan's policy towards Southeast Asia relations in the post-Cold War era. The doctrine served as “the blueprint of Japan’s foreign policy towards Southeast Asia", and established new norms with its three principles. The Fukuda Doctrine survived the Cold War, unlike the Brezhnev Doctrine, or the Nixon Doctrine that disappeared under it. Rather, it strengthened the discourse about the Japan-Southeast Asian relations into the 21st century. Thus, there is an expectation that it’ll evolve and remain relevant.
Fukushiro Nukaga
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said that the government believed Nukaga's explanation. Nukaga returned to the position of Minister of State and head of the Japan Defense Agency on 31 October 2005, under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, and remained in that position until September 2006.
Post-occupation Japan
Under the prime ministership of Tanaka Kakuei (1972–74), Japan took a stronger but still low-key stance by steadily increasing its defense spending and easing trade frictions with the United States. Tanaka's administration was also characterized by high-level talks with United States, Soviet, and Chinese leaders, if with mixed results. His visits to Indonesia and Thailand prompted riots, a manifestation of long-standing anti-Japanese sentiments.
Seiko Noda
Noda was appointed as State Minister in charge of Consumer Affairs by Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on August 1, 2008. In the Cabinet of Prime Minister Taro Aso, appointed on September 24, 2008, Noda retained her post.
Shintaro Abe
He led a major LDP faction, the conservative Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyūkai, whose reins he took from former Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda in July 1986, and held a variety of ministerial and party posts, the former of which included Minister of Agriculture and Forestry and Minister of International Trade and Industry. Abe was named as Minister of International Trade and Industry in the cabinet of the then prime minister Zenkō Suzuki on November 30, 1981. During this period, he was seen as a young leader groomed for the future prime ministry. In November 1982, he was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs in the cabinet of the then-prime minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, replacing Yoshio Sakurauchi. His term lasted until 1986.
Abe was a top contender to succeed Nakasone as prime minister in 1987, until he stepped aside for Noboru Takeshita, head of a powerful rival faction. Then, he was given the post of secretary general of the party in 1987. In 1988, his chances of becoming prime minister some time in the near future were again thwarted when his name became associated with the Recruit-Cosmos insider-trading stock scandal, which brought down Takeshita and forced Abe to resign as the party's secretary general in December 1988.
Third Abe Cabinet
The Third Abe Cabinet governed Japan under the leadership of Prime Minister Shinzō Abe from December 2014 to November 2017. The government is a coalition between the Liberal Democratic Party and the Komeito (which had changed its name from "New Komeito" in the 2012–2014 term) and controls both the upper and lower houses of the National Diet.
Lost Decade (Japan)
More than 25 years after the initial market crash, Japan is still feeling the effects of Lost Decade. However, several Japanese policymakers have attempted reforms to address the malaise in the Japanese economy. After Shinzo Abe was elected as Japanese prime minister in December 2012, Abe introduced a reform program known as Abenomics which sought to address many of the issues raised by Japan's Lost Decade. His "three arrows" of reform intend to address Japan's chronically low inflation, decreasing worker productivity relative to other developed nations, and demographic issues raised by an aging population. Investor response to the announced reform was strong, and the Nikkei 225 rallied to 20,000 in May 2015 from a low of around 9,000 in 2008. The Bank of Japan has set a 2% target for consumer-price inflation, although success has been hampered by a sales tax increase enacted to balance the government budget.
Shigeru Yoshida
In 1909, Yoshida married Makino Yukiko, the eldest daughter of Makino Nobuaki. They had four children: Sakurako, Kenichi, Kazuko, and Masao. Two of Yoshida's grandchildren are Tarō Asō, who served as the 92nd Prime Minister of Japan from 2008 to 2009, and Nobuko Asō who later married Prince Tomohito of Mikasa, a first cousin of Emperor Akihito.Yoshida's published writings encompass 159 works in 307 publications in 6 languages; His work can be found in the collections of 5,754 libraries worldwide (as of 5 June 2001).
Prime Minister of Japan
Until the mid-1930s, the Prime Minister of Japan was normally granted a hereditary peerage ("kazoku") prior to leaving office if he had not already been ennobled. Titles were usually bestowed in the ranks of count, viscount or baron, depending on the relative accomplishments and status of the Prime Minister. The two highest ranks, marquess and prince, were only bestowed upon highly distinguished statesmen, and were not granted to a Prime Minister after 1928. The last Prime Minister who was a peer was Baron Kijūrō Shidehara, who served as Prime Minister from October 1945 to May 1946. The peerage was abolished when the Constitution of Japan came into effect in May 1947.
List of Prime Ministers of Japan
This is a list of Prime Ministers of Japan, including those of the Empire of Japan, from when the first Japanese prime minister (in the modern sense), Itō Hirobumi, took office in 1885, until the present day. The office is currently held by Shinzō Abe. Those Prime Ministers under the Meiji Constitution had a mandate from the Emperor. The "electoral mandates" shown are for the lower house of the Imperial Diet that was not constitutionally guaranteed to have any influence on the appointment of the Prime Minister.