Prime Minister Aso is an interesting character. His party is said to be rapidly losing popularity, thanks in no small part to Aso’s influence. For as long as Aso is in power the lives of foreigners living in Japan are very much resting in his hands. Of Rice and Zen takes a look at the man behind the manga-loving persona.
Gaff 1
An often-quirky character whose nationalistic platform has been popular with young and old, Aso is known as a clay pigeon shooter and professes to be a big fan of Japanese comic books, or manga, which he had his family send him while he studied in American. His cheerleading for Japan’s pop culture has brought him popularity among many younger voters although many, including Ghibli Studios’ godfather Hayao Miyazaki, find it an embarrassment they’d prefer he kept behind closed doors.
Aso, a Roman Catholic, was born in Iizuka, Fukuoka to Takakichi Aso. His connections to the political world, and what some perceive as his sense of entitlement, were clear since the time of his birth.
Gaff 2
Before becoming Prime Minister and as part of the Koizumi government Aso suggested the Emperor of Japan visit the controversial Yasukumi Shrine as Koizumi had, sparking protests in China and both North and South Korea. He later backtracked on those comments, but immediately expressed his hopes that such a visit would be possible in the future.
His father was the chairman of the Aso Cement Company and a close associate of Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka and his mother was Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida’s daughter.
Gaff 3
Aso suggested China and other Asian countries “whined” too much about Japan’s war-crimes and helpfully suggested they “grow-up”.
Aso is also a great-great-grandson of Toshimichi Okubo, and his wife is the third daughter of Prime Minister Zenko Suzuki.
Gaff 4
Takeshima and Dokdo near Korea are disputed islets. Aso suggested Japan send its naval forces to “secure them”. Protests began around Asia, involving Korean children drawing anti-Japanese pictures that were later displayed around the Seoul subway network.
His younger sister, Nobuko, is the wife of Prince Tomohito of Mikasa, a first cousin of the Emperor Akihito. With this kind of pedigree, Aso was all but guaranteed to enter the world of Japanese politics.
Gaff 5
Aso jumped on the “pollution from China” bandwagon and claimed that China was intentionally using it to try and make Japanese men sterile.
Not content to rest on his family’s laurels Aso first graduated from the Faculty of Politics and Economics at Gakushuin University. He then studied in the United States at Stanford University, but was cut off by his family, who feared he was becoming too Americanized.
Gaff 6
Ever the problem-solver Aso declared that women should stay out of the job-market and concentrate on making babies for Emperor and country.
After making his way back to Japan on a ship, he left once more to study at the London School of Economics.
Gaff 7
Aso likened the Democratic Part of Japan to the Nazis of Hitler’s Germany.
Following this Aso spent two years working for a diamond mining operation in Sierra Leone before civil war forced him to return to Japan.
Aso joined his father’s company in 1966, and served as president of the Asō Mining Company from 1973 to 1979. He has distanced himself from the company’s use of forced labor during World War II.
Gaff 8
Once elected Aso addressed a room of parents and, seemingly forgetting who he was addressing and mistaking them for teachers, sympathised with them for having to deal with irresponsible, monster-parents as a part of their jobs.
Working for his father’s company, he lived in Brazil during the 1960s and reportedly speaks Portuguese fluently. He was also a member of the Japanese shooting team at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and President of the Japan Junior Chamber in 1978.
Gaff 9
Aso insulted the extremely large elderly population of Japan, who incidentally have the vote, by accusing them of being lax about their health and thus costing the tax payer a fortune. Large numbers of Japanese took exception to the intimation that only lazy and careless elderly people require health care.
Aso has vowed, after years of stringent government spending, to prioritize rebuilding Japan’s economy, which has boosted his appeal among smaller companies and in rural communities, constituencies that tend to have a high percentage of older voters who feel they have long been off the government’s radar. Aso was expected to woo these voters.
Gaff 10
In a statement directed at Hiromu Nonaka, a burakumin member of the Diet, Aso said that “those burakumin can’t become prime minister,” during a meeting of the Kono Group in 2001. Aso’s office later tried to claim his comments had been misunderstood.
“Aso is confident in his diplomatic ability, but the question remains whether he will be acknowledged or not by the world,” said Takashi Uesugi, a political analyst in Tokyo. “Right now, the international community is coming to terms with the fact that a guy with a gaffe-prone image has become the top leader of Japan.” So gaffe-prone is Aso that in late 2008 he was in the news on a regular basis producing sound bites like a George Bush wannabe and then apologising for said blunders.
Gaff 11
Aso was quoted as saying he wanted to make Japan a country in which “rich Jews” would like to live in 2001 as economics minister.
Aso is said to face an uphill battle within Japan, where the opposition party controls the upper house of parliament. This means it may be tough for him to pass any controversial legislation, including his continued support for the U.S. military actions in Afghanistan.
Gaff 12
Although modern Japan’s Yayoi genetic gene pool is said to come from north China and Korea, on October 15, 2005 Aso proudly boasted that Japan had “one culture, one civilization, one language, and one ethnic group,” and stated that it was the only such country in the world.
Analysts say he is likely to encounter resistance from within his own party, the Liberal Democratic Party, in regard to efforts to pursue a more nationalist agenda with China and South Korea, or heavy economic reforms.
Gaff 13
At a Japanese peace initiative on the Middle East at a lecture in Nagasaki Prefecture, Aso offered his opinion on Japan’s involvement: “the Japanese were trusted because they had never been involved in exploitation there, or been involved in fights or fired machine guns. Japan is doing what the Americans can’t do. It would probably be no good to have blue eyes and blond hair. Luckily, we Japanese have yellow faces.”
In a time when the Japanese economy is faltering and urgent action is necessary to calm the uneasy nerves of the Japanese people, Aso is under pressure to call an election mere months into his leadership.
Gaff 14
On February 4, 2006, “our predecessors did a good thing” regarding compulsory education implemented during Japan’s colonization of Taiwan.
Known for being an unpopular foreign minister, Aso is remembered for souring relations between Japan and its Asian neighbours while holding the position from 2005 to 2007. Quickly garnering a reputation for being a pugnacious nationalist with a penchant for justifying war-crimes and portraying China as a dangerous military threat, it has been suggested by several analysts that it is possible that Aso was handed the leadership as a poisoned chalice. Although having been re-branded by his party as a pragmatist, it could be that Aso was never intended to hold onto to power that long in the first place.
Gaff 15
Sensitivity and diplomacy towards China has long been recognised as an important quality in a Japanese Prime Minister. On March 9, 2006 he referred to Taiwan as a “law-abiding country”, which drew strong protest from Beijing, which considers the island a part of China. His implication that Taiwan is an independent nation contradicts the agreement made between Japan and China in 1972 (the Joint Communique of the Government of Japan and the Government of the People’s Republic of China) that the Beijing rather than Taipei government be considered under the sole legal government of China and that Taiwan be considered “an inalienable part of the territory of the People’s Republic of China.”
Photo Credit: Chris Gladis, Winston Sumalia
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