Junichiro Koizumi, Prime Minister of Japan: biography, personal life, political portrait

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

The 87th Prime Minister of Japan, Junichiro Koizumi, during his years at the head of the government of the Land of the Rising Sun, gained fame as a "lone wolf" and an eccentric. After his resignation, he disappeared from active politics for several years. However, in 2013, he returned, marked by a speech in which he presented to the public his radically changed position on the advisability of using nuclear energy in the Japanese islands.

Family

Junichiro Koizumi (his political portrait is of great interest to those who are busy studying the influence of individuals on the course of the history of their country) comes from a famous Japanese family. His maternal grandfather was the mayor of the city where he was born and a member of parliament, and his father in 1964-1965 served as the head of the departmentnational defense, which, in fact, meant the leadership of the entire military sphere of the country.

Early years

Junichiro Koizumi was born in Yokosuke, Kanagawa Prefecture on January 8, 1942.

He graduated from Yokosuka High School and then went to Keio University where he studied economics. In parallel with this, Junichiro Koizumi studied the art of playing the violin and achieved great success in this matter.

Later the young man went to London, where he continued his education at University College London. He failed to graduate from this educational institution, because three years later, in August 1969, he had to return to his homeland due to the death of his father and the need to take care of the family.

The beginning of a political career

In December 1969, Koizumi put forward his candidacy for the elections to the Lower House of Parliament, but he could not get the necessary number of votes to represent the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan there. Although in the Land of the Rising Sun a seat in Parliament was often inherited, he was too young, and his father's associates were wary of the "brat" who arrived from the UK.

In 1970 he became the secretary of Takeo Fukuda (then finance minister). This position allowed him to establish contacts in the highest circles of the country and gain experience in politics.

After 2 years in the general election, Junichiro Koizumi was chosen as the representative of the lower house of the Japanese Diet from Kanagawa Prefecture. He became a member of the factionFukuda of his party and was re-elected 10 times.

On the road to power

The further career of the young politician was simply brilliant, and he repeatedly held the posts of heads of the ministries of he alth, post and telecommunications, etc. However, the main peak, which was supposed to be the crown of his career, remained unconquered for many years.

On April 24, 2001, Koizumi was elected chairman of the LDP. He was initially seen as an outside candidate against incumbent Prime Minister Hashimoto, who was running for a second term. His opponents were also the charismatic and ambitious Taro Aso and the "old political wolf" Shizuka Kamei. In the 1st vote of the party organizations of his prefecture, he managed to get 87% to 11%, and in the 2nd vote among members of parliament - 51% to 40%.

Prime Minister of Japan

In the 2001 elections, Junichiro Koizumi, whose biography you already know in his youth, thanks to the results of the final vote, was able to fulfill his dream and take the highest post in the state.

Koizumi quickly realized that he was unlikely to win the battle with the old guard by the old methods, and he bet on the voter's desire for change.

In particular, the politician said that he was going to fight for the transition to a system of direct elections of the head of the country by the people, and not by voting within the winning political party.

After the victory, Koizumi made a boldstep. He moved away from the principle of dividing portfolios between representatives of his party and appointed not politicians, but professionals and scientists to key posts of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Economy.

Immediately, he had a lot of opponents among his "comrades-in-arms". However, party members had to endure the antics of their leader, as they understood that his removal would lead to the inevitable defeat of the LDPJ in the next elections.

Junichiro Koizumi: Reforms

Much of what this politician did as prime minister was a dialectical contradiction. In particular, it was hard not to notice that he often went ahead and changed the foundations on which the power of the LDPJ relied, which threatened to destroy it. At the same time, he could not do without it and was forced to use the organizational potential and authority of his party to carry out large-scale reforms, primarily in relation to the Japanese postal service and the privatization of expressways. The transformations conceived by Koizumi were supposed to lead to a radical change in the country's monetary and financial system, and cuts in budget expenditures were to reduce the deficit and have a psychological impact on civil servants who were used to receiving a fixed salary regardless of the results of their work.

During his time in power, Koizumi managed to carry out most of his plans. In particular, thanks to him, about a million residents of the Land of the Rising Sun were able to use state benefits.

Foreign policy

Koizumi also had big problems in foreign policy, as he had to decide whether or not to send soldiers to Iraq, where Japanese diplomats were killed. In addition, as a patriot, he strongly advocated the return of the 4 South Kuril Islands and did not allow any compromises. At the same time, he understood that it was not advisable to go ahead with our country, so he adopted an action plan, which, as he hoped, should bring relations with the Russian Federation to a level that would allow to successfully solve the existing territorial problem.

Junichiro Koizumi: private life

The politician married in 1978, when he was already under 40. The bride - Kaeko Miyamoto - was 21 years old at that time. The couple met as a result of o-miai, which is a traditional Japanese practice for finding the second half. The wedding took place at the Tokyo Prince Hotel and was attended by about 2,500 guests, including then-Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda. The celebration was quite magnificent, and the cake was a miniature copy of the Japanese Parliament building.

The marriage lasted only 4 years and ended in divorce in 1982. The reason was Kaeko's dissatisfaction with her husband's constant employment, and Junichiro Koizumi realized almost after the wedding that she did not correspond to his ideas about a politician's wife.

After a failed first marriage, Koizumi never married. In one of his interviews, he stated that divorce took ten times more energy from him than marriage itself.

Children

The politician had three sons in his marriage. The two elders - Kotaro and Shinjiro - after the divorce of their parents, remained under the care of their father, who was helped by one of his sisters. Interestingly, the third son of Junichiro Koizumi - Yeshinaga Miyamoto - never saw his father. He was born after his father divorced his mother. There is information that the young man was not allowed to see the politician when he tried to talk to him during the funeral of his grandmother.

Now you know what the 87th Prime Minister of Japan left a mark on politics, and got acquainted with some interesting details of his biography, which is an example of what a "lone wolf" with an unbending character can achieve.