was a Japanese political figure. He served as acting

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 ...

in 1980 after the sudden death of

Masayoshi Ōhira was a Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1978 to 1980. Ōhira's time in office was cut short when he died in office; he remains the most recent Japanese Prime Minister to die in office. Early life Masayoshi Ōhira was bo ...

. He then served as

foreign minister of Japan The is a member of the cabinet of Japan and is the leader and chief executive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The minister is responsible for implementing Japan’s foreign policy and is also a statutory member of the National Security Counci ...

from 1980 to 1981.

Early life

Ito was born on 15 December 1913 in

Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima is a city in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 118,159 in 50,365 households, and a population density of 310 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Geography Aizuwakamatsu is located in the west ...

, where his grandfather was a member of the Aizu clan.

Career

Following the death of

, Ito became the acting prime minister for a brief period of about a month. In this brief period, he received a report in July from the Comprehensive National Security Study Group which encouraged Ito to strengthen

Japan–United States relations International relations between Japan and the United States began in the late 18th and early 19th century with the diplomatic but force-backed missions of U.S. ship captains James Glynn and Matthew C. Perry to the Tokugawa shogunate. Following ...

whilst also increasing Japanese military self-sufficiency in light of developments within socialist Asia, such as the

Sino-Vietnamese War The Sino-Vietnamese War (also known by #Names, other names) was a border war fought between China and Vietnam in early 1979. China launched an offensive in response to Vietnam's Cambodian–Vietnamese War, actions against the Khmer Rouge in 1 ...

and the

Soviet invasion in Afghanistan The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, which seemed to signal reductions in American power on the continent. Following this brief period, Ito served as

Foreign Minister A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

from July 1980 to May 1981 in the cabinet of

Zenko Suzuki The Kudara no Konikishi ( ja, 百済王) was a Japanese clan whose founder, Zenkō ( or ), was a son of King Uija, the last king of Baekje, in southwestern Korea. ''Kudara'' was an ''uji'', or clan name, and represented its country of origin, Baek ...

, but he resigned from this position following American outrage at what the US government perceived as the Japanese government distancing itself from the US-Japanese military alliance following the previously mentioned Asian war developments. Ito developed a reputation as a "clean" and honest politician who did not become mired in scandals, and for this reason was suggested as a possible successor to 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 ...

after he resigned in disgrace due to 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 ...

, although Ito expressed doubts about whether the LDP was serious about reform after top party bosses rejected his comprehensive reform agenda and he thus declined.

Personal life

Ito was a cinephile and expressed himself as an avid fan of

Mitsuko Mori , real name , was a Japanese actress. Background In May 2009, she became the first actor in Japan to have performed the stage play 2,000 times. She was born in Kyoto, Japan. On May 11, 2009, Takeo Kawamura announced that Mori would be awarded t ...

. Ito, then battling with

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

, died on 21 May 1994.

References

, - , - , - , - , - 1913 births 1994 deaths 20th-century prime ministers of Japan University of Tokyo alumni Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) Government ministers of Japan Deputy Prime Ministers of Japan Foreign ministers of Japan Prime Ministers of Japan Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) politicians {{Japan-politician-stub Politicians from Fukushima Prefecture