Shōichi Nakagawa
Shōichi Nakagawa (中川 昭一, Nakagawa Shōichi, born July 19, 1953) is a Japanese politician in the Liberal Democratic Party, currently serving as Minister of Finance. He previously held the posts of Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry and Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in the cabinet of Junichiro Koizumi.
Political career
Nakagawa was born in Hokkaidō and attended Azabu High School, graduated from the law faculty of the University of Tokyo in 1978 and entered the Industrial Bank of Japan.
His father, prominent Hokkaidō politician Ichiro Nakagawa, mysteriously committed suicide in a hotel in 1983. Although Shoichi was born in Tokyo and had lived there his whole life, he ran to replace his father and succeeded him. At that time, he had a widely publicized conflict with his father's political aide, Muneo Suzuki, who also ran for a seat in a neighboring district. (Suzuki was forced to resign on corruption charges in 2002.)
In 1998, he became Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries under Keizo Obuchi, and in 2003, he became Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry in the cabinet of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. He served as Agriculture Minister from October 2005 to September 2006, when incoming prime minister Shinzo Abe appointed Nakagawa as chairman of the Policy Research Council.
In December 2006, Kyodo News Agency quoted Nakagawa as having said the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were "truly unforgivable on humanitarian grounds" and reported the politician's concerns over the possession of nuclear weapons by North Korea.[1]
Nakagawa's views are close to those of Abe. In particular, both support nationalism in history education, a hard-line stance regarding North Korea and constitutional amendments. It should however be noted that, whereas the former is an outspoken supporter of nuclear development policies, the latter has on several occasions stated he does not endorse such measures.
Furthemore, while Abe has made efforts to relink ties with neighbouring China, Nakagawa officially voiced his concern over the country's growing military expenditure, claiming that, were the situation in Taiwan deteriorate, Japan would become, by 2020, a Chinese colony.[2]
On January 6, 2007, in an interview with a reporter from the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, Nakagawa stated "Women have their proper place: they should be womanly...They have their own abilities and these should be fully exercised, for example in flower arranging, sewing, or cooking. It's not a matter of good or bad, but we need to accept reality that men and women are genetically different[[3]]" However, these comments were not widely noticed by the Japanese public.
In the Cabinet of Prime Minister Taro Aso, appointed on 24 September 2008, Nakagawa was appointed as Minister of Finance and Minister of State in charge of Financial Services.[4]
Personal life
Nakagawa has a reputation for being a blunt and conservative politician.
He is also known as a heavy drinker, although he has announced attempts to quit drinking on several occasions. After winning an election in 2000, he famously painted a black "teardrop" on a daruma doll as he was too drunk to paint the eye in correctly.
In April 2004, it was revealed that he had not been paying into the national pension plan for 21 years.
In the G7 meeting of Finance ministers on the 14th February 2009, Nakagawa was caught up in a scandal concerning the possibility that he may have been inebriated while at a press conference[5] [6]
However, Nakagawa stated that the reason for his state of drowsiness and slurred words was that he had taken too much cold medicine before the meeting. Despite calls for his resignation by the Oppostion party at the time, Prime Minister Taro Aso still supported him and called for him to continue his duties as Finance Minister[7].
On February 17, Nakagawa announced that he had chosen to resign.[8]
References
- ^ Mainichi Daily News, December 18, 2006
- ^ Yahoo! World News, February 26, 2007
- ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/markets/2809843/Japan-leads-world-in-demographic-decline.html
- ^ "Aso elected premier / Announces Cabinet lineup himself; poll likely on Nov. 2", The Yomiuri Shimbun, 25 September 2008.
- ^ Video, Shoichi Nakagawa G7 News Conference, The News Bizarre, February 16th 2009, http://newsbizarre.com/2009/02/video-shoichi-nakagawa-drunk-at-g7-news.html
- ^ Japanese finance minister denies he was drunk at G-7, International Herald Tribune, February 16th 2009, http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/02/16/business/16japan.php
- ^ Nakagawa Says He Won’t Resign After Meeting Aso (Update2), Bloomberg.com: News, February 16, 2009 05:44 EST, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aIb8s.q19XTw
- ^ "Japan finance minister steps down". BBC News. 2009-02-17. Retrieved 2009-02-17.
