Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 17, 1993 TAG: 9312170054
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-14 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
He was 75, suffered from diabetes and died of complications from the disease, Reuters reported.
For more than a decade, Tanaka was his country's most potent political figure by virtue of his role as leader of the most powerful faction in the dominant Liberal Democratic Party, a conservative group that dominated Japanese politics until this year. His support was instrumental in putting several of Japan's prime ministers into office.
In 1983, Tanaka, a shrewd political tactician, a skilled fund-raiser and a deft dispenser of patronage, was convicted of having taken the equivalent of $2.1 million in bribes from the Lockheed Corp. while he was prime minister. He immediately began an appeal process that continued until his death.
Soon after his conviction, he was re-elected to Parliament by an overwhelming majority in his native Niigata, a rural constituency that sent him to Parliament for 42 years.
Insisting that he was innocent, Tanaka told campaign audiences, "I have never done anything which I must be ashamed of before God."
He pointed to the government money he had helped to provide for medical benefits and other aid he had given to deserving recipients. "Politics by nature is warmhearted," he said. "Without understanding these things, you can't feel the true politics of Japan."
Tanaka's earthy ways helped make him highly popular early in his time as prime minister. A book he wrote advocating economic changes became a best seller, and he rode a wave of national sentiment in rebuilding Japan's traditional ties to China.
But his administration was beset by inflation and, in 1973, full-blown recession. His popularity shriveled even before the revelations of questionable dealings in finance and real estate that led him to step down in 1974, although he was not then prosecuted.
In 1976, he was indicted for bribery, which was said to have occurred while he headed the government. He was jailed for a while that year before being released on bail.
In convicting him, seven years later, the Tokyo District Court found Tanaka guilty of having taken bribes from Lockheed to arrange for Japan's largest domestic airline, All Nippon Airways, to buy Lockheed Tristar aircraft. He was sentenced to four years in prison.
Despite the furor over the bribery indictment and conviction, Tanaka retained such enormous power that he was sometimes known as "the Shadow Shogun" in reference to the title once borne by military governors of Japan.
Tanaka had become the Liberal Democrats' secretary general in 1965 and 1966 and again from 1968 to 1970. His duties included raising and allocating money. In 1971 and 1972, he was minister of international trade and industry.
In 1972, Tanaka was elected president of the party, which was then in power. He was designated prime minister when Eisaku Sato's Cabinet resigned.
After several years, prices soared; and the recession that struck the country in 1973 was the worst since the end of the U.S. occupation of Japan.
Tanaka's refusal to give up his Parliament seat after his conviction in 1983 became the chief issue in parliamentary elections that year in which the Liberal Democrats suffered substantial losses.
by CNB