'Yoshiro Mori' (森 喜朗 ''Mori Yoshirō'', born
July 14,
1937) is a
Japanese politician who served as the 85th and 86th
Prime Minister of Japan starting at
April 5,
2000 ending
April 26,
2001. Commonly described as having "the heart of a flea and the brain of a shark," he was an unpopular prime minister mainly remembered today for his many
gaffes and situationally inappropriate actions. He is currently President of the
Japan Rugby Football Union.
Early political life
Yoshiro Mori was born in
Ishikawa Prefecture,
Japan, as the son of Shigeki and Kaoru Mori, wealthy rice farmers with a history in politics, as both his father and grandfather served as the mayor of
Neagari, Ishikawa Prefecture. His mother died when Yoshiro was seven years old.
He studied at the
Waseda University in
Tokyo, joining the
rugby club. Afterwards he joined the
Sankei Shimbun, a conservative newspaper in
Japan. In
1962 he left the newspaper and became secretary of a
Diet member, and in 1969 he was elected in the
lower house at age 32. He was reelected 10 consecutive times. In
1980 he was involved in the
Recruit scandal about receiving unlisted shares of
Recruit Cosmos before they were publicly traded, and selling them after they were made public for a profit of approximately 1 million dollars. He was education minister in
1983 and
1984, International trade and industry minister in
1992 and
1993, and construction minister in
1995 and
1996.
Prime Minister
Mori's predecessor,
Keizo Obuchi, suffered a stroke on
April 2 2000 and was unable to continue this office. Therefore, Mori, who was the secretary general of the
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), became the prime minister.
His position in office was marred with a long list of faux-pas, unpopular decisions, PR mistakes and gaffes:
★ One of the earliest occurred at Obuchi's funeral, when Mori failed to clap and bow properly before Obuchi's shrine, an important portion of the Buddhist funeral rite. The other world leaders present at the funeral performed the ritual correctly.
★ On meeting
President Bill Clinton in the
26th G8 summit in
Okinawa Prefecture, he asked Clinton "Who are you?", with the intention of saying "How are you?". Since Clinton thought it was a joke, he answered (in English) "I'm
Hillary's husband, and you?", to which Mori answered "Me, too". However, this story may be anecdotal.
★ At a meeting of
Shinto leaders in Tokyo, Mori described Japan as "the nation of the gods, with the Emperor at its center." This "divine nation statement" stirred up great controversy in Japan.
★ During the election campaign of 2000, one of his most notable "slip of the tongue" happened in a speech in Niigata on June 20. When asked about recent newspaper reports that showed that roughly half of the voters still had not decided who to vote for, he replied “If they still have no interest in the election, it would be all right if they just slept in on that [election] day.”
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★ Mori's biggest public relations disaster was to continue a round of golf after receiving the news that the US submarine
USS ''Greeneville'' had accidentally hit and sunk the Japanese fishing ship ''
Ehime Maru'' during an emergency surface drill on
February 9 2001, resulting in 9 dead students and teachers.
★ Mori promised then newly elected
ROC President
Chen Shui-bian that he would celebrate if Chen won the 2000 presidential elections. This promise was not fulfilled until late 2003.
Mori was not particularly popular at any time during his term: toward the end of his term, his approval rating dropped to single digits. In fact, the people of Ishikawa, his home prefecture, referred to him as "the shame of Ishikawa" (石川の恥), partly because even though he was prime minister, he was unable to get the planned extension of the
Shinkansen to run as far as Ishikawa. He was replaced by
Junichiro Koizumi on
April 26,
2001.
Mori remains a member of the House of Representatives, representing the Second District of Ishikawa. He is married to Chieko (born: Chieko Maki), a fellow
Waseda University student, and he has a son, Yūki Mori, and a daughter, Yoko Fujimoto. He was awarded the
Padma Bhushan,
India's third highest civilian award, in
2004.
Cabinets
Mori appointed three cabinets. The third cabinet is officially referred to as a continuation of the second cabinet, as the changes came amid a major administrative realignment in January
2001 that eliminated several cabinet positions and renamed several key ministries.
Japanese Rugby
Mori played the game of rugby union at
Waseda University and developed a passion for it there, though he was never a high-level player. In June 2005 he became President of the
Japan Rugby Football Union and it had been hoped his clout would help secure the
2011 Rugby Union World Cup for Japan, but instead the event was awarded to New Zealand in late November 2005.
External links
★
Official website (in Japanese)
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