Kiichi Miyazawa Died

Ex-Prime Minister, Kiichi Miyazawa, died at 87. He was highly evaluated as a statesman not only in Japan but also in the US.

元首相・宮沢喜一氏が死去
6月28日16時47分配信 読売新聞

　宮沢喜一（みやざわ・きいち）元首相が、２８日午後１時１６分、老衰のため、東京都渋谷区神宮前６の３４の１の自宅で死去した。８７歳だった。　宮沢氏は自主憲法制定を綱領に掲げる自民党にあって、護憲、平和路線を追及する「ハト派」の中心的存在だった。　首相としては、自衛隊を初めて国連平和維持活動（ＰＫＯ）に派遣し、その後の日本の外交戦略の方向を示した。政治改革をめぐっては自民党の分裂を招き、結党後初の野党転落に直面したが、経済危機の中で蔵相として再登板するなど、その後も活躍を続けた。　２００３年衆院選の際、小泉首相の要請を受けて衆院議員を引退した後も党の新憲法起草などに関わった。



Japan's dovish ex-PM Miyazawa dies at 87
By Linda SiegReutersThursday, June 28, 2007; The Washington Post

TOKYO (Reuters) - Former Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa, whose career stretched from Japan's defeat in World War Two through the 1990s "lost decade" of economic stagnation, died on Thursday at the age of 87, his office said.

A finance expert at ease on the world stage and a diplomatic dove keen on better ties with Asia, Miyazawa first served as finance minister from 1986 to 1988, when low interest rates fuelled soaring stock and land prices.

He was forced to resign the post over a shares-for-favors scandal that ensnared his party -- only to return as prime minister just three years later.

For some, Miyazawa's most enduring image was captured in 1992 when he cradled the head of U.S. President George Bush in his lap after Bush collapsed at a state banquet in Tokyo.

But his tenure in Japan's top job was cut short in 1993 when ruling party rebels backed a no-confidence motion. That sparked an election in which scandal-weary voters ousted the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party briefly for the only time in its five-decade reign.
Five years later, Miyazawa -- then a sprightly 78 -- was drafted for a rare second term as finance minister in an effort to avert a banking crisis in the world's second-biggest economy.

"I am not sure I will live up to your expectations, but I will do my best," the elder statesman said at the time. Within weeks, Miyazawa was jetting off to the United States for consultations and jousting at home with young lawmakers in both ruling and opposition parties who insisted on putting teeth into his plans for a painless banking bailout.

Ultimately, a financial system rescue was enacted, but it took another five years before Japan's banks were cleansed of the bad loan legacy from the collapse of the late 1980s asset bubble.

An aide in the Japanese delegation that negotiated the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty formally ending World War Two, Miyazawa was elected to parliament in 1953 and held many key cabinet posts. A fluent English speaker, he had close personal ties to America -- he met his Japanese wife while studying there, and his daughter is married to a U.S. diplomat.