Shin Kanemaru (金丸信 ''Kanemaru Shin'', 17 September 1914 – 28 March 1996) was a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

politician who was a significant figure in the political arena of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

from the 1970s to the early 1990s. He was also Director General of the Japan Defense Agency from 1977 to 1978.

Early life and education

Kanemaru was born in Suwa village (now Minami-arupusu city),

Yamanashi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Yamanashi Prefecture has a population of 817,192 (1 January 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,465 km2 (1,724 sq mi). Yamanashi Prefecture borders Saitama Prefecture to the no ...

on 17 September 1914. He began his studies at the

Tokyo University of Agriculture The , abbreviated as Nodai (農大, ''nōdai'') or Tokyo nodai (東京農大, ''Tōkyō nōdai''), is a private university of agriculture in Japan. There are three campuses: Setagaya, Atsugi, and Okhotsk (Abashiri). Outline Tokyo University ...

and became a teacher upon graduation.

Career

He was conscripted into the army and served briefly in the

Kwantung Army ''Kantō-gun'' , image = Kwantung Army Headquarters.JPG , image_size = 300px , caption = Kwantung Army headquarters in Hsinking, Manchukuo , dates = April ...

as a sergeant from 1937 to 1938. He was discharged due to illness and returned to Japan. After his military service, he entered into the

sake Sake, also spelled saké ( ; also referred to as Japanese rice wine), is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indee ...

brewing business and was later involved in the concrete and souvenir businesses. He was a member of the Liberal Democratic Party and a member of the faction of

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 ...

Arrest and indictment

In 1992, he was indicted in the

Sagawa Kyubin is a major transportation company in Japan. Its headquarters are in Minami-ku, Kyoto. It competes with Yamato Transport, Nippon Express, and other major logistics companies. Its total sales for the year ending March 2005 were ¥728,000,000,000 ...

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

scandal. He was charged with evading taxes on

payments A payment is the voluntary tender of money or its equivalent or of things of value by one party (such as a person or company) to another in exchange for goods, or services provided by them, or to fulfill a legal obligation. The party making the p ...

he had received from

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...

companies that were seeking political influence. He resigned and was arrested on 13 March 1993 after authorities found at least $51 million in

bearer bonds A bearer bond is a bond or debt security issued by a business entity such as a corporation or a government. As a bearer instrument, it differs from the more common types of investment securities in that it is unregistered—no records are kept o ...

and hundreds of pounds of gold stored at his home.

Personal life

He has a son, Shingo Shin. Kanemaru died in Yamanashi on 28 March 1996 at the age of 81.

References

Sources

* William H. Cooper
Japan-U.S. Trade: The Construction Services Issue

U.S. Congressional Research Service The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is a public policy research institute of the United States Congress. Operating within the Library of Congress, it works primarily and directly for members of Congress and their committees and staff on a co ...

: Report for Congress 93-957, November 4, 1993. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kanemaru, Shin 1914 births 1996 deaths Politicians from Yamanashi Prefecture Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) Ministers of Construction of Japan Deputy Prime Ministers of Japan Japanese defense ministers Japanese politicians convicted of corruption Japanese people convicted of tax crimes People convicted of bribery Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) politicians Imperial Japanese Army soldiers Military personnel of the Second Sino-Japanese War Members of the Kwantung Army