was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1991 to 1993. He was a member of the

National Diet of Japan The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (, '' Sangiin''). Both houses are directly elected under a parall ...

for over 50 years.

Early life and education

Miyazawa was born into a wealthy, politically active family in Fukuyama, Hiroshima, on 8 October 1919, as the eldest son of politician

Yutaka Miyazawa Yutaka is a masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Yutaka can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *豊, "bountiful" *裕, "affluence" *穣, "fertile" *温, "warmth" The name can also be written in hiragana ゆ ...

and his wife Koto. His father was a member of the Diet, and his mother was the daughter of politician Ogawa Heikichi, who served as Minister of Justice and Minister of Railways. Following the

1923 Great Kantō earthquake The struck the Kantō Plain on the main Japanese island of Honshū at 11:58:44 JST (02:58:44 UTC) on Saturday, September 1, 1923. Varied accounts indicate the duration of the earthquake was between four and ten minutes. Extensive firestorms an ...

, Miyazawa lived at his grandfather Ogawa Heikichi's villa Kasuian in Hiratsuka. At the time, his father Yutaka worked for Yamashita Kisen, whilst planning to move his political career from

Hiroshima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Hiroshima Prefecture has a population of 2,811,410 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 8,479 km² (3,274 sq mi). Hiroshima Prefecture borders Okayama ...

to the National Diet. Miyazawa graduated from Tokyo Imperial University with a degree in law.

Career

In 1942, Miyazawa joined the Ministry of Finance, avoiding military service during World War II. While in the Ministry, he became a protégé of future prime minister Hayato Ikeda. In 1953, at Ikeda's urging, Miyazawa ran for and won election to the Upper House of the

National Diet The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (Japan), House of Councillors (, ...

, where he remained until moving to the Lower House in 1967. As a leading figure in Ikeda's Kōchikai policy group, Miyazawa was considered a member of Ikeda's "brains trust." In 1961, Miyazawa accompanied Ikeda to a summit meeting with U.S. President John F. Kennedy, and due to his excellent English, served as Ikeda's sole translator during the latter's "yacht talks" with Kennedy on Kennedy's presidential yacht, the ''Honey Fitz.'' Beginning with the Ikeda cabinet, Miyazawa held a number of important government posts, including Director of the Economic Planning Agency (1962-1964), Director of the Economic Planning Agency (1966-1968), Minister of International Trade and Industry (1970–1971), Minister of Foreign Affairs (1974–1976), Director of the Economic Planning Agency (1977–1978), and Chief Cabinet Secretary (1984–1986). He became Minister of Finance under the government of Noboru Takeshita in July 1986. However, Miyazawa had to resign from this post amid the Recruit scandal in 1988.

Prime minister

Miyazawa became Prime Minister on 5 November 1991 backed by his faction. Miyazawa gained brief fame in the United States when President George H. W. Bush vomited in his lap and fainted during a state dinner on 8 January 1992. In 1992, while he was in South Korea, he formally apologized for Japan's use of

comfort women Comfort women or comfort girls were women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army in occupied countries and territories before and during World War II. The term "comfort women" is a translation of the Japanese '' ia ...

, making him the first Japanese leader to acknowledge that Japan's military coerced women into sexual slavery before and during the second world war. His government passed a law allowing Japan to send its forces overseas for

peacekeeping Peacekeeping comprises activities intended to create conditions that favour lasting peace. Research generally finds that peacekeeping reduces civilian and battlefield deaths, as well as reduces the risk of renewed warfare. Within the United N ...

missions as well as negotiating a trade agreement with the United States. It also introduced financial reforms to address the growing economic

malaise As a medical term, malaise is a feeling of general discomfort, uneasiness or lack of wellbeing and often the first sign of an infection or other disease. The word has existed in French since at least the 12th century. The term is often used ...

in Japan in the 1990s. Miyazawa resigned in 1993 after losing a vote of no confidence marking an end to 38 years of Liberal Democratic Party government. The reason for the vote was a scandal involving

Fumio Abe was a politician in Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) who served as state minister for Hokkaido and Okinawa development agencies. Abe was not related to former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose surname is pronounced identically but writte ...

, a member of Miyazawa's faction. The Liberal Democratic Party returned to power in June 1994.

Subsequent career

Miyazawa later returned to frontbench politics when he was once again appointed finance minister from 1998 to 2001 in the governments of

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 ...

and Yoshirō Mori. In 1998, Miyazawa replaced

Hikaru Matsunaga was a Japanese the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) politician who briefly served as finance minister from 27 January to 30 July 1998. Early life and education Matsunaga was born on 23 November 1928. He is a graduate of Waseda University's law ...

as finance minister. He served a total of 14 terms in both upper and lower houses before retiring from politics in 2003. The reason for his retirement was that then prime minister Junichiro Koizumi set an age limit of 73 for LDP political candidates.

Personal life

Miyazawa married while studying in the United States. He and his wife, Yoko, had two children: Hiro, an architect, and Keiko, who became wife of diplomat Christopher J. Lafleur. He published a book, entitled ''Secret Talks Between Tokyo and Washington'', which was translated into English by Robert D. Eldridge in 2007. The book is about Miyazawa's views concerning the relationships between the US and Japan in terms of the political, economic, and security-related negotiations during the period of 1949 and 1954.

Death

Miyazawa died in Tokyo at the age of 87 on 28 June 2007.

References

External links

* , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Miyazawa, Kiichi 1919 births 2007 deaths 20th-century prime ministers of Japan People from Fukuyama, Hiroshima University of Tokyo alumni Prime Ministers of Japan Deputy Prime Ministers of Japan Economic planning ministers of Japan Ministers of Finance of Japan Ministers of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) politicians Members of the House of Councillors (Japan) Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) Foreign ministers of Japan Kiichi Politicians from Hiroshima Prefecture