was a Japanese politician. Elected as a representative of the Liberal Democratic Party, in 1993 he broke away to form

New Party Sakigake The , also known as the New Harbinger Party, was a political party in Japan that broke away from the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on 22 June 1993. The party was created by Masayoshi Takemura. The party was centrist, and had many reformist an ...

, before joining the newly formed

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 ...

in 1997. He served 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 ...

and then finance minister in the Japanese

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

of the mid-1990s.

Early life

Takemura was born in Gamō district in

Shiga Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,412,916 (1 October 2015) and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to the nort ...

to a family of farmers. Initially studying engineering at

Nagoya University , abbreviated to or NU, is a Japanese national research university located in Chikusa-ku, Nagoya. It was the seventh Imperial University in Japan, one of the first five Designated National University and selected as a Top Type university of T ...

, he graduated from

University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

studying education and finance. He began his professional life as a bureaucrat in the home affairs ministry.

Political career

After leaving the ministry, he was elected mayor of Yōkaichi in Shiga Prefecture, and then became the governor of Shiga prefecture and served in the post from 1974 to 1986. He was elected to the Lower House in 1986 as a representative of the Liberal Democratic Party. In 1993 he split from the LDP to found the

.Sanger, David E. (June 25, 1993)
In a Tokyo Hotel Room, The Swords Came Out
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. He took part in the coalition government of

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

as chief cabinet secretary. Then he was appointed finance minister in the coalition cabinet led by Prime Minister

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 ...

in July 1994. Described as "blunt, pragmatic and outspoken", his confrontational tenure at the finance ministry led Euromoney to describe him as "The worst finance minister of the year" for 1995. It has been speculated that his confrontational attitude towards the officials of the Ministry of Finance stem from the manner in which the Hosokawa government fell apart over the introduction of

consumption tax A consumption tax is a tax levied on consumption spending on goods and services. The tax base of such a tax is the money spent on Consumption (economics), consumption. Consumption taxes are usually indirect, such as a sales tax or a value-added ta ...

, with Ministry of Finance Officials conspiring with Hosokawa to keep coalitions partners in the dark over their plans.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Takemura, Masayoshi 1934 births 2022 deaths Government ministers of Japan Ministers of Finance of Japan Governors of Shiga Prefecture Mayors of places in Japan Chief Cabinet Secretaries of Japan Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) politicians New Party Sakigake politicians Democratic Party of Japan politicians Nagoya University alumni People from Shiga Prefecture University of Tokyo alumni