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| Birth Name(s) : Yoshiro Mori |
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Full Yoshiro Mori Biography
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 as well as the Japan-Korea Parliamentarians' Union.
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.
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 day.”
- 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.
Although he was retired, his effect have remained until Yasuo Fukuda. Mori, Koizumi, Abe and Fukuda all came from the faction known as Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyukai (清'政策研究会).
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. |
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