Word: takeshita
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...even if Mori is somehow bundled off stage, there is still a problem with the last act. Who would succeed him? The LDP sorely lacks a powerful shogun like the late Noburu Takeshita who not only served as Prime Minister but was a master at misshitsu seiji, the behind-the-screen politics of grooming new leaders and smoothing over intra-party squabbles...
These days Takeshita's old office? complete with its watercolor of Izumo shrine?is occupied by Mikio Aoki, an LDP heavyweight who hails from the same prefecture as Takeshita. But, having little clout and less charisma, Aoki is no Takeshita. He's competing for influence with Hiromu Nonaka?another Gang of Five member and Prime Minister-wannabe, who belongs to the largest party faction (led by former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto...
...dropped another bombshell at the same press conference when in response to a question he revealed that he would resign if his government didn't pass political-reform bills by the end of the year. Such directness compares favorably with the opacity of politicians like former Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita, known for not completing his sentences. Says a veteran journalist: "In the past we always had to turn to a commentator to interpret the Prime Minister's statements...
...ideas rather than influences. But just how fresh are the new winds swirling around the Diet? Are Hata and company born-again politicians destined to shape the post-cold war era? Or are they rats fleeing a sinking ship? Hata and all his colleagues were members of the Takeshita faction of the L.D.P., which was close to the center of all the corruption scandals in recent years...
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...