was a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party. Nonaka served as a local politician in Kyoto Prefecture from 1951 to 1978 and in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

from 1983 to 2003, becoming one of its most prominent members in the 1990s. Nonaka served as

Minister of Home Affairs An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

and Head of the National Public Safety Commission from 1994 to 1995, as

Chief Cabinet Secretary The is a member of the cabinet and is the leader and chief executive of the Cabinet Secretariat of Japan. The Chief Cabinet Secretary coordinates the policies of ministries and agencies in the executive branch, and also serves as the government ...

from 1998 to 1999, and as Head of the Okinawa Development Agency in 1999. Nonaka was widely considered as a voice of reason within the Liberal Democratic Party and viewed by some as the most powerful person in Japan during the mid-to-late 1990s.

Early life and local political career

Hiromu Nonaka was born on 20 October 1925 in Sonobe, Kyoto Prefecture (now part of the city of Nantan) into a family of ''

burakumin is a name for a low-status social group in Japan. It is a term for ethnic Japanese people with occupations considered as being associated with , such as executioners, undertakers, slaughterhouse workers, butchers, or tanners. During Japan's ...

'' background. After graduating from Kyoto Prefectural Sonobe Junior High School in 1943, Nonaka worked for the

Japanese National Railways The abbreviated JNR or , was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987. Network Railways As of June 1, 1949, the date of establishment of JNR, it operated of narrow gauge () railways in all 46 pref ...

(JNR) in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

, an office managed at the time by future prime minister

Eisaku Sato Eisaku (written: , , or ) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese manga artist *, Japanese politician and Prime Minister of Japan *, Japanese politician *, Japanese shogi player *, Japanese painter *, ...

. Nonaka encountered discrimination in his youth as a member of the ''burakumin'' group, and later said this discrimination was a factor in his decision to leave JNR and enter politics. Nonaka entered local politics in Sonobe, where he served as a member of the local assembly from 1951 to 1958, and as mayor from 1958 to 1966. Nonaka then won a seat in the prefectural assembly of Kyoto Prefecture and served from 1967 to 1978. Nonaka briefly served as vice-governor of Kyoto Prefecture in 1978, but resigned to establish and serve as the chairman of Japan's first care facility for individuals with profound physical disabilities.

Diet career

Nonaka entered the

through the Kyoto 2nd district by-election of 1983, in which two seats were open following the death of incumbent representatives Senichi Tanigaki and Shigesaburo Maeo. Tanigaki's son

Sadakazu Tanigaki is a Japanese politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives from 1983 to 2016, as Minister of Finance from 2003 to 2006, as President of the Liberal Democratic Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2009 to 2012, as Minist ...

won the most votes in the election, followed by Nonaka. In the 1980s, Nonaka was part of the House faction headed by Prime Minister

Noboru Takeshita was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1987 to 1989 during the bubble economy. Takeshita led the largest faction at the time in the Liberal Democratic Party, which he inherited from Kakuei Tanaka, from the 1980s u ...

of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). In 1988, Nonaka rose to prominence following the

Recruit scandal The was an insider trading and corruption scandal that forced many prominent Japanese politicians to resign in 1988. Recruit is a human resources and classifieds company based in Tokyo. Its chairman, , offered a number of shares in a Recruit s ...

, which led to the collapse of the Takeshita's faction. The 1993 general election saw the LDP enter the opposition in Japan for the first time in decades. As few LDP Diet members had experience being part of the opposition, Nonaka drew on his experience as part of the local and prefectural assembly opposition in Kyoto to become one of the most prominent Diet critics of the government of

Morihiro Hosokawa is a Japanese politician and Nobility, noble who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1993 to 1994, leading a coalition government which was the first non-Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) government of Japan since 1955 ...

Following the collapse of the Hosokawa-led coalition in 1994, Nonaka entered the

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

for the first time as part of the government of

Tomiichi Murayama is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1994 to 1996. He led the Japanese Socialist Party, and was responsible for changing its name to the Social Democratic Party (Japan), Social Democratic Party of Japan in 1996. Up ...

. Nonaka served as

through the

Tokyo subway sarin attack The was an act of domestic terrorism perpetrated on 20 March 1995, in Tokyo, Japan, by members of the cult movement Aum Shinrikyo. In five coordinated attacks, the perpetrators released sarin on three lines of the Tokyo Metro (then ''Teito Rapi ...

of 1995, and drew attention for his personal apology to a

suspect In law enforcement jargon, a suspect is a known person accused or suspected of committing a crime. Police and reporters in the United States often use the word suspect as a jargon when referring to the perpetrator of the offense (perp in dated U ...

falsely accused of poisoning his wife and neighbors with

sarin Sarin (NATO designation GB G-series, "B"">Nerve_agent#G-series.html" ;"title="hort for Nerve agent#G-series">G-series, "B" is an extremely toxic synthetic organophosphorus compound. In 1998, at the request of Prime Minister

Ryutaro Hashimoto was a Japanese politician who served as the Prime Minister of Japan from 1996 to 1998. He was the leader of one of the largest factions within the ruling LDP through most of the 1990s and remained a powerful back-room player in Japanese politic ...

, Nonaka travelled to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

to express remorse to victims of the

Nanjing massacre The Nanjing Massacre (, ja, 南京大虐殺, Nankin Daigyakusatsu) or the Rape of Nanjing (formerly romanized as ''Nanking'') was the mass murder of Chinese civilians in Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China, immediately after the Ba ...

. Later that year, in response to a demand for further apologies by

General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party The general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party () is the head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Since 1989, the CCP general secretary has been the paramount leader o ...

Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2004, and as pres ...

, Nonaka described the issue as a "finished problem." In 1998, Nonaka was named

under Prime Minister

Keizō Obuchi was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1998 to 2000. Obuchi was elected to the House of Representatives in Gunma Prefecture in 1963, becoming the youngest legislator in Japanese history, and was re-elected to his ...

, where he wielded an unusual amount of power in this role. Nonaka was viewed by many insiders as a shadow leader of the government, arranging a major bank bailout plan and bringing the faction led by Ichiro Ozawa into the governing coalition. A ''TIME'' article in December 1998 called Nonaka "Japan's most powerful man." In 2000, as LDP secretary-general, Nonaka played a key role in defeating a

no-confidence motion A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

against Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori. In 2001, Nonaka was seen as a contender for the presidency of the LDP, and thereby for

Prime Minister of Japan The prime minister of Japan (Japanese: 内閣総理大臣, Hepburn: ''Naikaku Sōri-Daijin'') is the head of government of Japan. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Japan and has the ability to select and dismiss its Ministers of Stat ...

. Nonaka was reluctant to take the position as it would place his background as a ''burakumin'' in the spotlight. During his candidacy, future Prime Minister

Tarō Asō is a Japanese politician serving as the Vice President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 2021. Asō previously served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2008 to 2009 and as Deputy Prime Minister of Japan and Minister of Finance from 2 ...

allegedly made remarks disparaging towards Nonaka's ''burakumin'' heritage, for which Nonaka later remarked that he would "never forgive" Asō.Yamaguchi, Mari,
Discrimination claims die hard in Japan
, ''

The Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc.. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...

'', January 25, 2009, p. 2. Asō denied making the remarks when questioned in 2005. Nonaka ultimately supported

in the election, but Hashimoto lost to

Junichiro Koizumi Junichiro Koizumi (; , ''Koizumi Jun'ichirō'' ; born 8 January 1942) is a former Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2001 to 2006. He retired from politics in 2009. He is ...

. Koizumi's politics led to a decline in the power of LDP factions, and Nonaka vigorously opposed the re-election of Koizumi as LDP president in September 2003, stating that "this election will decide whether Japan will be able to survive or go into decline as a nation." After Koizumi was re-elected, Nonaka announced his retirement from politics in October 2003. Nonaka did not run in the 2003 general election, but campaigned for the LDP candidate in his district in Kyoto Prefecture.

Post-retirement

Following his 2003 departure from the Diet, Nonaka served as chairman of the National Federation of Land Improvement Industry Groups, a powerful supporter of the LDP. After the formation of the

Democratic Party of Japan The was a centristThe Democratic Party of Japan was widely described as centrist: * * * * * * * to centre-left liberal or social-liberal political party in Japan from 1998 to 2016. The party's origins lie in the previous Democratic Part ...

government in 2009, Nonaka resigned from the LDP in 2011 for the stated reason of preserving his neutrality. However, Nonaka rejoined the LDP in 2016. On 5 June 2013, Nonaka led a delegation including former Prime Minister

Yukio Hatoyama is a former Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 16 September 2009 to 8 June 2010. He was the first Prime Minister from the modern Democratic Party of Japan. First elected to the House of Representatives in 1986, Hatoy ...

to visit

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

and confer with

Liu Yunshan Liu Yunshan (; ; born July 1947) is a retired Chinese politician. He was a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, the top decision-making body of the CCP, between 2012 and 2017; he was broadly tasked with the wo ...

, a member of the

Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party The Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), officially the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, is a committee consisting of the top leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Histori ...

. Nonaka told reporters that as a young politician in the 1970s, he had heard

Kakuei Tanaka was a Japanese politician who served in the House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives from 1947 Japanese general election, 1947 to 1990 Japanese general election, 1990, and was Prime Minister of Japan from 1972 to 1974. After ...

state that an agreement had been reached to shelve the dispute between Japan and China over the

Senkaku Islands The are a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, administered by Japan. They are located northeast of Taiwan, east of China, west of Okinawa Island, and north of the southwestern end of the Ryukyu Islands. They are known in main ...

in order to normalize relations between the countries. archived at Chief Cabinet Secretary

Yoshihide Suga is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2020 to 2021. He had served as Chief Cabinet Secretary during the second administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe fro ...

denied the claim as "baseless" and alleged that Nonaka had been influenced by "Chinese hospitality." In 2017, Nonaka publicly criticized the LDP's plans to revise

Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution is a clause in the national Constitution of Japan outlawing war as a means to settle international disputes involving the state. The Constitution came into effect on 3 May 1947, following World War II. In its text, the state formally renounces th ...

, stating that "Japan should not go through the history of war again."

Death

Nonaka died on 26 January 2018, at the age of 92, at a hospital in the Shimogyō Ward of

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

References

External links

Profile of Hiromu Nonaka
, - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Nonaka, Hiromu 1925 births 2018 deaths Burakumin Politicians from Kyoto Prefecture Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) Members of the Kyoto Prefectural Assembly Government ministers of Japan Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) politicians