Nakagawa Shoichi, a cruel twist of fate

Shoichi Nakagawa at a press event at

Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan

When fate strikes relentlessly...

Following his father Ichiro Nakagawa* in dramatic death,

Japan's former vice minister Shoichi Nakagawa was found dead

in a bed in his house in Tokyo, Japanese media reported on

Sunday, citing Tokyo Metropolitan Police. No external

injuries were found on his body, Kyodo News Agency reported.

Former Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa has been found dead

at his home in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward, Nakagawa, 56, was lying

face down on a bed on the second floor of his home without

any apparent external wounds, according to the Tokyo police.

He was among the big Liberal Democratic Party members who

lost in the Aug. 30 House of Representatives election, in

which the Democratic Party of Japan clinched a landslide

victory over the LDP to oust it from power. Nakagawa, who

won his first lower house seat in 1983, stepped down as

finance minister and financial services minister in February

after appearing to be drunk at a press conference of a Group

of Seven financial leaders meeting in Rome.

He was a Japanese conservative politician in the Liberal

Democratic Party (LDP), who served as Minister of Finance

until February 17, 2009. Nakagawa was born in Tokyo and

attended Azabu High School, graduated from the law faculty of

the University of Tokyo in 1978 and entered the Industrial

Bank of Japan.

His father was prominent Hokkaido politician Ichiro Nakagawa.

Ichiro Nakagawa was the late director general of the Science

and Technology Agency, who mysteriously committed suicide in

a hotel in 1983 although he was to be assigned to a high

position at the LDP... Nakagawa was first elected in that

year as a House of Representatives member, succeeding his

father in a Hokkaido district. He served eighth terms.

Although Shoichi was born in Tokyo and had lived there his

whole life, he ran to replace his father and succeeded him.

At that time, he had a widely publicized conflict with his

father's secretary, Muneo Suzuki, who also ran for a seat in

a neighboring district. (Suzuki was forced to resign on

corruption charges in 2002.)

In 1998, he became Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries

under Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, and in 2003, he became

Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry in the cabinet of

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. He served as Agriculture

Minister from October 2005 to September 2006, when incoming

prime minister Shinzo Abe appointed Nakagawa as chairman of

the Policy Research Council of the LDP.

In December 2006, Kyodo News Agency quoted Nakagawa as having

said the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were

"truly unforgivable on humanitarian grounds" and reported the

politician's concerns over the possession of nuclear weapons

by North Korea.

Shoichi Nakagawa, was named chairman of the LDP's Policy

Research Council, he had a political stance close to LDP ex

party President Shinzo Abe, sharing his hawkishness on North

Korea and desire to revise the Constitution. But his

appointment to one of the party's three top posts to support

Abe invited jealousy from party colleagues, as he has served

in key party and Cabinet positions throughout the 5 years of

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi mandate.

Nakagawa and Abe had jointly led a group of lawmakers of

their generation promoting nationalist views on history

education, and were also on friendly terms with each other.

Nakagawa, like Abe, called for economic sanctions on North

Korea and a new Constitution to replace the one instituted

while Japan was under U.S. Occupation.

Serving as minister of economy, trade and industry and then

as agriculture, forestry and fisheries minister, Nakagawa

promoted trade liberalization, taking advantage of his career

as a kingmaker in farm policy. As farm minister, however, he

did not budge in rejecting U.S. pressure to lift the beef

import ban imposed due to concerns over mad cow disease.

During the G7 meeting of finance ministers in Rome on

February 14, 2009, Nakagawa then minister of Finance was seen

to be slurring his words and exhibiting other odd behavior,

which some attributed to alcohol. However, he stated that

the reason for his drowsiness and slurred speech was that he

had taken too much cold medicine before the meeting.

Despite calls for his resignation by opposition parties at

the time, Nakagawa did not immediately resign. Prime

Minister Taro Aso supported him and called for him to

continue his duties as Finance Minister. However, on

February 17 Nakagawa announced that he had chosen to resign,

and his resignation was accepted by Prime Minister Aso.

(Shoichi Nakagawa interviewed by RTL , AFP, Le Monde at LDP Nagatacho Nov 2006, 27th arranged by Foreign Press Center Japan)

✍ As a journalist I knew Nakagawa Shoichi-san for years, since

he became a major VIP in LDP, we did not share the same views

on Japan politics but established trustful working

relationship and I knew he committed so much to his politics.

His father tragic death in the 80 s' were uncontrollable

stigmata of a relentless pain. In addition to his drinking

problem he also had a weak myocardial condition. Politics is

cruel and we must never forget it as media and I offer my

sincere condolences to his widow.

* Nakagawa Ichiro, "politician (1925-1983) born in Hokkaido.

Elected to the Diet in 1963, he created a secret

ultra-conservative group, the Seiran-kai -the Society of the

Blue Storm- (other members were Ishihara Shintaro, Watanabe

Michio, Fujio, Masayuki) in 1973, in an attempt to

destabilize the party in power, the Jiminto (LDP). Distraught

at not being able to take over the presidency of that party,

he committed suicide (by hanging)." In : Japanese

Encyclopedia by Louis Frederic and Kathe Roth Harvard

University Press 2005.

And this:

"In 1973, the first oil shock occurred, causing wholesale

prices to jump by 31.4 percent. At the same time, the dollar

was devalued. Reforms in the international monetary system

floated the yen and created a sudden influx of available

money that fueled real estate investment. This in turn

fueled a runaway inflation spiral that deeply hurt the

nation's salaried workers. Domestic affairs had been

considered Tanaka's greatest forté; ironically it turned out

to be his weakest ability. His public image took a severe

beating in 1973. Further upsetting the public tranquility in

this year was the right-wing, intra-party formation of

Seirankai (the Blue Storm Group). The thirty-one-member

group, which included such notable politicians as Michio

Watanabe, Ichiro Nakagawa, Masayuki Fujio and Shintaro

Ishihara, created a public sensation when they sealed a

written pledge of unity in Yakuza style, with their blood.

The group was staunchly anti-communist and deeply opposed to

Tanaka's opening of China. The existence of such a group

within the LDP was very frightening to the nation's union

members. The Seirankai success was followed in March of 1974

by the presentation of a bill that would have officially

sanctioned Yasukuni Shrine as a memorial to the war dead.

The Shrine seemed to symbolize, at least to a lot of

Japanese, a return to prewar policies. Insofar as the young

men who died for their country had little say in the

government logic that lead to their deaths, a shrine to them

wouldn't seem to be a horrible thing, but in Japan it was

still an emotionally charged issue that cost Tanaka a lot of

support, even though the bill was discarded before it reached

the House of Councilors." http://tinyurl.com/yby7oy3