Mori, Yoshiro

▪ 2001

      After Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi suffered a crippling stroke on April 2, 2000, Yoshiro Mori, secretary-general of the long-ruling Liberal-Democratic Party (LDP), succeeded him. In a speech to the Japanese Diet (legislature) on April 7, Mori stated that his government would work for the “rebirth of Japan,” making it “a nation that engenders the trust of the world.” Critics, however, contended that Mori remained dedicated to the large-scale spending on public works that was generally believed to have played a role in Japan's decade-long economic decline.

      In his first few months in office, Mori was unable to negate such criticism. On June 25 he witnessed a resounding defeat for the LDP in elections for the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Diet. The LDP won 233 of the 480 seats in the House, down from the 271 it had held in the previous session, and was thereby forced for the first time to rely on two small coalition partners, the New Komeito and the New Conservative Party, to gain a legislative majority. Citing comments by Mori that seemed to echo Japan's aggressively nationalistic past and his advice to undecided voters to “sleep away” the election, many Japanese blamed the prime minister for the LDP's defeat. Though reappointed prime minister in July, Mori faced a no-confidence vote in November. He narrowly survived the motion. In December, in an effort to raise his approval ratings, Mori reshuffled his cabinet.

      Mori was born on July 14, 1937, in Neagari, Ishikawa prefecture, Japan. Both his father and his grandfather had served as mayor of the town. Mori attended Waseda University, Tokyo, where he graduated in 1959 with a degree in commerce. In 1960 he went to work at the newspaper Sankei Shimbun, where he came in contact with many of Japan's business leaders. Mori began his political career in 1962 as secretary to a Diet member. In 1969 he ran as an independent for a House seat and was elected. He then joined the LDP and was reelected nine times.

      In 1983–84 Mori served as minister of education under Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone. In 1989 he was connected with the so-called Recruit scandal, in which high-ranking LDP officials were said to have accepted discounted shares in the Recruit Co. in exchange for political favours. Although Mori reportedly earned a profit of almost $1 million when he sold his Recruit shares, prosecutors determined that there was no evidence on which to charge him. Mori served as chairman of the LDP's Policy Research Council in 1991–92 and as minister of international trade and industry in 1992–93. In 1993 he was appointed secretary-general of the LDP, the party's second highest post, and he held other party and government positions from 1995 to 1998. When Obuchi became prime minister in 1998, Mori again was named LDP secretary-general, which put him in position to succeed Obuchi. Despite the LDP's poor performance in the June 2000 parliamentary elections, Mori was reconfirmed as prime minister by the Diet on July 4, and he appointed a new cabinet the same day.

David R. Calhoun

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