Word: kanemaru
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...years ago, remembers him back then as a traditional politician "focused on bringing home the bacon" to his constituency in Iwate prefecture in northeastern Honshu. His mentors include both Kakuei Tanaka, Prime Minister from 1972 to 1974, who treated Ozawa like a son and arranged his marriage, and Shin Kanemaru, who served as Deputy Prime Minister and LDP vice president. Both were legendary political fixers, as was Ozawa before he left the party; both were eventually mired in corruption scandals. When Japan was riding high in the 1980s, commentators liked to say that it had a "first-rate economy...
DIED. SHIN KANEMARU, 81, political kingmaker; in Shiranecho, Japan. The power behind Japan's Liberal Democratic Party, Kanemaru handpicked Prime Ministers before being driven from office in 1992 in a bribery scandal that brought down his party...
What is more, the political engineer behind Hata's insurgency is Ichiro Ozawa, a tough backroom operator who was right-hand man to Shin Kanemaru, the Takeshita faction's Mr. Big until prosecutors caught up with him last March. Kanemaru stands trial next month on charges of failing to pay taxes on the millions he allegedly skimmed off illicit political donations. Largely because of Ozawa's close association with Kanemaru, the national daily Asahi Shimbun is less than impressed with the new group. "They attack the limitations of the L.D.P.," the paper noted last week. "But weren't they...
Ozawa too followed his father's footsteps into politics. Unlike Hata, he had a taste for the backrooms of the L.D.P., where power was divided among the factions, and where men like Kanemaru allegedly collected huge pay-offs from businessmen grateful for favors. Because there is widespread suspicion of Ozawa's close links to Kanemaru, he tends to stay out of the limelight, while Hata holds the press conferences. Nonetheless, Ozawa has both a stronger intellect and the more forceful personality. "Ozawa is quite rare among Japanese politicians because he speaks clearly and identifies problems," says Kensuke Watanabe, author...
...Kanemaru scandal has shaken the Liberal Democratic Party as none before. Some popular younger figures are threatening to bolt and form a new party; last week Tsutomu Hata even rejected an offer to become Foreign Minister in order to maintain his freedom of action. Some analysts think a new party might win as many as 40 seats in Diet elections that must be held by next February, possibly costing the Liberal Democrats their majority...