Editing Ryutaro Hashimoto

{{short description|Prime Minister of Japan from 1996 to 1998}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{more footnotes|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_suffix    = 
| name                = Ryutaro Hashimoto
| native_name         = {{nobold|橋本 龍太郎}}
| native_name_lang    = ja
| image               = Ryutaro Hashimoto 19960111.jpg
| caption             = Official portrait, 1996
| office              = [[Prime Minister of Japan]]
| deputy              = [[Wataru Kubo]] (1996)
| monarch             = [[Akihito]]
| term_start          = 11 January 1996
| term_end            = 30 July 1998
| predecessor         = [[Tomiichi Murayama]]
| successor           = [[Keizō Obuchi]]
| office1             = [[President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)|President of the Liberal Democratic Party]]
| 1blankname1         = {{nowrap|[[Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party|Secretary-General]]}}
| 1namedata1          = [[Koichi Kato (politician, born 1939)|Koichi Kato]]
| term_start1         = 1 October 1995
| term_end1           = 24 July 1998
| predecessor1        = [[Yōhei Kōno]]
| successor1          = Keizō Obuchi
| office2             = [[Deputy Prime Minister of Japan]]
| primeminister2      = [[Tomiichi Murayama]]
| term_start2         = 2 October 1995
| term_end2           = 11 January 1996
| predecessor2        = Yōhei Kōno
| successor2          = [[Wataru Kubo]]
| office3             = [[Minister of Finance (Japan)|Minister of Finance]]
| primeminister3      = ''Himself''
| term_start3         = 28 January 1998
| term_end3           = 30 January 1998
| predecessor3        = [[Hiroshi Mitsuzuka]]
| successor3          = [[Hikaru Matsunaga]]
| primeminister4      = [[Toshiki Kaifu]]
| term_start4         = 10 August 1989
| term_end4           = 14 October 1991
| predecessor4        = [[Tatsuo Murayama]]
| successor4          = [[Toshiki Kaifu]]
| office5             = [[Ministry of International Trade and Industry|Minister of International Trade and Industry]]
| primeminister5      = [[Tomiichi Murayama]]
| term_start5         = 30 June 1994
| term_end5           = 11 January 1996
| predecessor5        = Eijiro Hata
| successor5          = Shunpei Tsukahara
| office6             = [[Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (Japan)|Minister of Transport]]
| primeminister6      = [[Yasuhiro Nakasone]]
| term_start6         = 22 July 1986
| term_end6           = 6 November 1987
| predecessor6        = [[Hiroshi Mitsuzuka]]
| successor6          = [[Shintaro Ishihara]]
| office7             = [[Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (Japan)|Minister of Health]]
| primeminister7      = [[Masayoshi Ōhira]]
| term_start7         = 7 December 1978
| term_end7           = 9 November 1979
| predecessor7        = Tatsuo Ozawa
| successor7          = Kyoichi Noro
| office8             = [[Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party]]
| president8          = [[Sōsuke Uno]]
| term_start8         = June 1989
| term_end8           = August 1989
| predecessor8        = [[Shintaro Abe]]
| successor8          = [[Ichirō Ozawa]]
| office9             = Member of the [[House of Representatives (Japan)|House of Representatives]]
| constituency9       = [[Okayama 2nd district (1947–1993)|Okayama 2nd]] (1963–1996)<br>[[Okayama 4th district|Okayama 4th]] (1996–2005)
| term_start9         = 21 November 1963
| term_end9           = 8 August 2005
| predecessor9        = ''Multi-member district''
| successor9          = [[Michiyoshi Yunoki]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1937|7|29|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Sōja|Sōja, Okayama]], [[Empire of Japan|Japan]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|2006|7|1|1937|7|29|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Shinjuku|Shinjuku, Tokyo]], Japan
| spouse              = {{marriage|Kumiko Nakamura|1966}}
| relatives           = [[Daijiro Hashimoto]] (brother)
| children            = [[Gaku Hashimoto]]
| alma_mater          = [[Keio University]]
| party               = [[Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)|Liberal Democratic]]
| signature           = Ryutaro Hashimoto kao.svg
| module              = {{Listen|pos=center|embed=yes|filename=Ryutaro Hashimoto voice.ogg|title=Ryutaro Hashimoto's voice|type=speech|description=Hashimoto at a press conference following the first [[Asia–Europe Meeting]] summit<br/>Recorded 2 March 1996}}
}}
{{nihongo|'''Ryutaro Hashimoto'''|橋本 龍太郎|Hashimoto Ryūtarō|29 July 1937 – 1 July 2006}} was a Japanese politician who served as [[Prime Minister of Japan|prime minister of Japan]] from 1996 to 1998.

Born in [[Okayama Prefecture]], Hashimoto graduated from [[Keio University]] in 1960 and entered the [[National Diet]] in 1963. He rose through the ranks of the [[Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)|Liberal Democratic Party]] and became major figure in the [[Kakuei Tanaka|Tanaka]]/[[Noboru Takeshita|Takeshita]] faction, and served as health and welfare minister under [[Masayoshi Ōhira]], transport minister under [[Yasuhiro Nakasone]], and finance minister under [[Toshiki Kaifu]]. In 1994, he became minister of international trade and industry, then became prime minister in 1996 as the head of a coalition with the [[Social Democratic Party (Japan)|Social Democratic Party]] and [[New Party Sakigake]]. During his tenure, Hashimoto sought currency reform and tried to revive the Japanese economy. He resigned after the LDP lost its majority in the [[1998 Japanese House of Councillors election|1998 upper house election]], but remained leader of his faction until a scandal in 2004. He retired from politics in 2005.

==Early political life==
[[File:Murayama Government 19950808.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Hashimoto with [[Tomiichi Murayama]] and the Ministers of Murayama Government (at the [[Prime Minister's Official Residence (Japan)|Prime Minister's Official Residence]] on 30 June 1994)]]
Hashimoto was born on 29 July 1937,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/jul/03/guardianobituaries.japan|title=Obituary: Ryutaro Hashimoto|last=Reed|first=Christopher|date=2 July 2006|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=7 January 2017}}</ref> in [[Sōja]] in [[Okayama Prefecture]]. His father, Ryōgo Hashimoto, was a cabinet minister under Prime Minister [[Nobusuke Kishi]]. Following his father's lead, Ryutaro received his degree in political science from [[Keio University]] in 1960, and was elected to the [[House of Representatives of Japan]] in 1963.<ref>John C Fredriksen, ed. ''Biographical Dictionary of Modern World Leaders'' (2003) pp 196-198.</ref>

He moved through the ranks of the [[Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)|Liberal Democratic Party]] over the next twenty years, landing a spot as Minister of Health and Welfare under premier [[Masayoshi Ōhira]] in 1978, and in 1980 became the LDP's director of finance and public administration. He again became a cabinet minister in 1986 under [[Yasuhiro Nakasone]], and in 1989 became secretary general of the LDP, the highest rank short of party president (if the LDP is in government, usually also the prime minister.)

Hashimoto became a key figure in the strong LDP faction founded by [[Kakuei Tanaka]] in the 1970s, which later fell into the hands of [[Noboru Takeshita]], who then was tainted by the [[Recruit scandal]] of 1988. In 1991, the press had discovered that one of Hashimoto's secretaries had been involved in an illegal financial dealing. Hashimoto retired as Minister of Finance from the [[Second Kaifu Cabinet]]. Following the collapse of the [[bubble economy]], the LDP momentarily lost power in 1993/94 during the [[Hosokawa Cabinet|Hosokawa]] and [[Hata Cabinet|Hata]] anti-LDP coalition cabinets negotiated by LDP defector [[Ichirō Ozawa]]. Hashimoto was brought back to the cabinet when the LDP under [[Yōhei Kōno]] returned to power in 1994 by entering a ruling coalition with traditional archrival [[Japanese Socialist Party]] (JSP), giving the prime ministership to the junior partner, and the minor [[New Party Harbinger]] (NPH). Hashimoto became [[Ministry of International Trade and Industry|Minister of International Trade and Industry]] in the [[Murayama Cabinet]] of [[Tomiichi Murayama]].<ref>[[Kantei]]/[[Cabinet of Japan]]: Historical cabinets, [http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/rekidai/kakuryo/81.html Murayama Cabinet (81st)] {{in lang|ja}}</ref> As the chief of MITI, Hashimoto made himself known at meetings of [[APEC]] and at summit conferences.

In September 1995, Yōhei Kōno did not stand for another term. Hashimoto won the [[1995 Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) leadership election|election to LDP president]] against [[Jun'ichirō Koizumi]] 304 votes to 87,<ref name="LDP_presidents">LDP: [https://www.jimin.jp/aboutus/history/prime_minister/index.html 歴代総裁] (historical party presidents; includes election results)</ref> and succeeded Kōno as leader of the party and as deputy prime minister in the Murayama cabinet.<ref>[[Kantei]]/[[Cabinet of Japan]]: Historical cabinets, [http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/rekidai/kakuryo/81-1.html Reshuffled Murayama Cabinet (81st, reshuffled)] {{in lang|ja}}</ref>

==Premiership (1996–1998)==
{{seealso|First Hashimoto Cabinet|Second Hashimoto Cabinet}}
[[File:Clinton Hashimoto 1996.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.9|Hashimoto with [[Bill Clinton]] (at [[Akasaka Palace]] on 17 April 1996)]]
[[File:Hashimoto meets Cohen.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.9|Hashimoto with [[William Cohen]] (at the [[Prime Minister's Official Residence (Japan)|Prime Minister's Official Residence]] on 9 April 1997)]]
When Murayama stepped down in 1996, the 135th National Diet [[Election of the Prime Minister of Japan|elected]] Hashimoto to become Japan's 82nd prime minister – he was elected against NFP leader [[Ichirō Ozawa]] with 288 votes to 167 in the lower house and 158 to 69 in the upper house –<ref>[[National Diet Library]], 135th National Diet minutes (links to pdfs of the printed central government's official gazette ''([[kanpō]])''; use the [http://kokkai.ndl.go.jp/ Diet minutes search system] for other formats): [http://kokkai.ndl.go.jp/SENTAKU/syugiin/135/0001/13501110001001.pdf House of Representatives full session January 11, 1996] and [http://kokkai.ndl.go.jp/SENTAKU/sangiin/135/0010/13501110010001.pdf House of Councillors full session January 11, 1996] contain the full result and list all individual roll-call votes for designating a prime minister (including lower-ranking candidates and invalid votes omitted here).</ref> and lead the continued LDP-JSP-NPH coalition government ([[First Hashimoto Cabinet]]).<ref>[[Kantei]]/[[Cabinet of Japan]]: Historical cabinets, [http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/rekidai/kakuryo/82.html First Hashimoto Cabinet (82nd)] {{in lang|ja}}</ref>

Hashimoto reached an agreement with the United States for the repatriation of [[MCAS Futenma]], a controversial U.S. military base in an urban area of Okinawa, in April 1996. The deal was opposed by Japan's foreign ministry and defense agency but was backed by Hashimoto's American counterpart, President [[Bill Clinton]]. The repatriation of the base has yet to be completed as of 2015, as Okinawans have opposed efforts to [[relocation of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma|relocate the base to a new site]].<ref>{{cite news|title=江田憲司氏「橋本首相は大田知事と17回会った」|url=http://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO87962100R10C15A6I10000/|access-date=15 June 2015|work=Nihon Keizai Shimbun|date=14 June 2015}}</ref> Hashimoto's domestic popularity increased during the Japanese-US trade dispute when he publicly confronted [[Mickey Kantor]], US Trade Representative for the Clinton administration.<ref name="Curtis1999">Gerald L. Curtis: The Logic of Japanese Politics. Leaders, Institutions and the Limits of Change. Columbia University Press 1999, p.172.</ref>

Hashimoto's popularity was largely based on his attitude.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}} When asked about why Japanese car dealerships did not sell American cars, he answered, "Why doesn't [[IBM]] sell [[Fujitsu]] computers?"{{Citation needed|date=August 2009}} When Japan's economy did not seem to be recovering from its 1991 collapse, Hashimoto ordered a commission of experts from the private sector to look into improving the Japanese market for foreign competition, and eventually opening it completely.

On 27 September 1996, the Hashimoto cabinet dissolved the [[House of Representatives (Japan)|lower house]] of the [[National Diet]]. In the ensuing [[1996 Japanese general election|general lower house election in October]], the LDP made gains while its coalition partners [[Social Democratic Party (Japan)|SDP]] – the JSP had been renamed briefly after the formation of the Hashimoto cabinet – and NPH lost seats. Both parties ended the coalition with the LDP, but they remained Diet allies in a cooperation outside the cabinet ''(kakugai kyōryoku)'' until 1998.<ref name="Curtis1999" /> Thus, the LDP and the [[Second Hashimoto Cabinet]]<ref>[[Kantei]]/[[Cabinet of Japan]]: Historical cabinets, [http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/rekidai/kakuryo/83.html Second Hashimoto Cabinet (83rd)], later [http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/rekidai/kakuryo/83-2.html Reshuffled] {{in lang|ja}}</ref> safely controlled both houses of the Diet, although it was initially technically in the minority by a few seats in the lower house, and well short of a majority in the upper house. It was the first single-party LDP government since 1993. Having achieved this, Hashimoto was confirmed without challenger as party president in September 1997.<ref name="LDP_presidents" />

Hashimoto's government raised the Japanese [[consumption tax]] in 1997. Although the government implemented a reduction in the personal income tax prior to raising the consumption tax, the hike still had a negative effect on consumer demand in Japan.<ref>{{cite news|last=Ikegami|first=Akira|title=現代日本の足跡に学ぶ（14） 成長へ 好循環つかめるか|url=http://www.nikkei.com/paper/article/?ng=DGKDZO65878040V20C14A1TCP000|access-date=27 January 2014|newspaper=日本経済新聞|date=27 January 2014|quote=橋本龍太郎首相は97年の消費税率引き上げ前、所得税減税を実施しました。そして「もう大丈夫だろう」と判断したのですが、消費が落ち込んでしまいました。駆け込み需要を景気回復と見誤っていたのです。}}</ref>

During the [[House of Councillors of Japan|Upper House]] [[1998 Japanese House of Councillors election|regular election 1998]], the LDP failed to restore its majority (lost in [[1989 Japanese House of Councillors election|1989]] and not to be regained until [[2016 Japanese House of Councillors election|2016]]) and instead lost more seats. Hashimoto resigned to take responsibility for this failure, and was succeeded as LDP president and Prime Minister by Foreign Minister [[Keizō Obuchi]].

==Later political life==
[[File:Paul Wolfowitz & Ryūtarō Hashimoto.jpg|thumb|Hashimoto with [[Paul Wolfowitz]] at [[the Pentagon]] in October 2002]]
Hashimoto stayed in a LDP adviser party, and in the 2nd Mori Cabinet the Minister of Okinawa Development Agency and Minister in charge of administrative reform were appointed. He led the faction for several years. In 2001 he was one of the leading candidates to take office as prime minister but lost in the election of the more popular Prime Minister [[Junichiro Koizumi]].

Hashimoto's faction began to collapse late in 2003 while debating over whether to re-elect Koizumi. In December 2004, Hashimoto stepped down as faction leader when he was found to have accepted a ¥100 million cheque from the Japan Dental Association, and announced that he would not run for re-election in his lower house district.

On [[World Water Day]] (22 March) in 2004, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan established a global advisory board on Water and Sanitation, and appointed Ryutaro Hashimoto as its chairman. Just prior to his death, Hashimoto submitted a letter addressed to "The People of the World" for publication in the book ''Water Voices from Around The World'' (October 2007), which is a book affiliated with the United Nations' decade of water (2005–15).{{citation needed|date=June 2015}} In his letter, he addressed water-related disasters around the world, with an urgent appeal to the United Nations to halve the number of deaths caused by water disasters by 2015. Hashimoto closes this letter by writing: "An old proverb says 'Dripping water wears away the stone.' I humbly suggest, that through steadfast efforts, we can overcome any obstacle our civilization may encounter in the coming decade."{{citation needed|date=June 2015}}

==Personal life==
He was married to Kumiko Hashimoto (born 1941) (橋本 久美子 ''Hashimoto Kumiko''),<ref>{{cite magazine |author=Watanabe, Satoru |date=October 1999 |title=JAPAN AND EUROPE: SELF-IMAGES AND MUTUAL PERCEPTIONS |url=http://lookjapan.com/LBsc/99OctCul.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020504060649/http://lookjapan.com/LBsc/99OctCul.html |archive-date=4 May 2002 |access-date=1 May 2019 |magazine=[[Look Japan]]}}</ref> and the couple had two sons and three daughters: Ryu, [[Gaku Hashimoto|Gaku]], Hiroko, Atsuko, and Danko.

An exchange program between the [[Scout Association of Japan]] and the [[Boy Scouts of America]] was started in 1998, at the suggestion of then-Prime Minister Hashimoto in a 1996 meeting with U.S. President [[Bill Clinton]].<ref name="scout">{{cite news|title=Boy Scout leader urges knife safety|date=9 March 1998|work=[[Japan Times]]|url=http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn19980309b2.html |access-date=24 April 2010}}</ref> In 1998, he was presented with the [[Silver World Award]] by [[Jere Ratcliffe]], Chief Scout Executive of the [[Boy Scouts of America]], "for outstanding contributions to young people on an international level".<ref name="scout"/>

==Death==
In June 2006, Hashimoto was hospitalized in an [[Intensive care unit|ICU]] to undergo surgery to remove a large part of his colon. On 1 July 2006 at the age of 68, Hashimoto died from complications of [[Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome|multiple organ failure]] and [[septic shock]] at the [[:ja:国立国際医療研究センター|National Center for Global Health and Medicine]] in [[Shinjuku]], Tokyo, just 4 weeks before his 69th birthday.<ref>The Economist, 11 July 2006: [http://www.economist.com/node/7158172 Ryutaro Hashimoto, a reformer of Japan, died on July 1st, aged 68]</ref>

==Honours==
*[[Golden Pheasant Award]] of the [[Scout Association of Japan]] (1992)<ref name="reinanzaka">{{Cite web |date=2014-05-23|script-title=ja:䝪䞊䜲䝇䜹䜴䝖日本連盟 きじ章受章者 |trans-title=Recipient of the Golden Pheasant Award of the Scout Association of Japan |url=http://reinanzaka-sc.o.oo7.jp/kiroku/documents/20140523-3-kiji-list.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200811030258/http://reinanzaka-sc.o.oo7.jp/kiroku/documents/20140523-3-kiji-list.pdf |archive-date=2020-08-11 |website=Reinanzaka Scout Club| language=ja}}</ref>
* Grand Cordon of the [[Order of the Chrysanthemum]] (1 July 2006; posthumous)<ref name="ReferenceA">* ''From the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia''</ref>
*[[List of Japanese court ranks, positions and hereditary titles|Senior Second Rank]] (1 July 2006; posthumous)<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
* Grand Cross with Diamonds of the [[Order of the Sun of Peru]] (1996)<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |url=https://cde.gestion2.e3.pe/doc/0/0/1/5/2/152563.pdf |title=Condecorados: Orden El Sol del Peru |work=Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores |access-date=2022-07-11}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal |last=Mishima |first=Ko |title=The Changing Relationship between Japan's LDP and the Bureaucracy: Hashimoto's Administrative Reform Effort and Its Politics |journal=Asian Survey |volume=38 |date=October 1998 |issue=10 |pages=968–989 |doi=10.2307/2645646 |jstor=2645646 |ref=none}}
* {{cite journal |last=Taichi |first=Sakaiya |title=Hashimoto Reform Has a Particular Ability to save Japan |journal=Japan Echo Web |volume=10 |date=February 2012 |url=https://www.japanpolicyforum.jp/pdf/Hashimoto%20Reform.pdf |via=Japanpolicyforum.jp |access-date=2024-02-08 |ref=none}}
* {{cite journal |last=Weathers |first=Charles |title=Reformer or Destroyer? Hashimoto Tōru and Populist Neoliberal Politics in Japan |journal=Social Science Japan Journal |volume=17 |number=1 |date=2014 |pages=77–96 |doi=10.1093/ssjj/jyt029 |url=https://academic.oup.com/ssjj/article-pdf/17/1/77/4648596/jyt029.pdf |via=Academia.edu |access-date=2024-02-08 |ref=none}}
* {{cite journal |last=Zagorsky |first=Alexei V. |title=Three years on a path to nowhere: The Hashimoto initiative in Russian-Japanese relations |journal=Pacific Affairs |date=2001 |volume=74 |issue=1 |pages=75–93 |doi=10.2307/2672488 |jstor=2672488 |ref=none}}

==External links==
* [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/02/world/asia/02hashimoto.html Ryutaro Hashimoto Dies at 68; a Tough Former Prime Minister of Japan]; ''New York Times'' obituary.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/19961108091036/http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/1.html Major Speech and Articles Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto] - Government of Japan
* Junichiro Koizumi. Memorial Address at the Joint Memorial Service by the Cabinet and Liberal Democratic Party for the Late Ryutaro Hashimoto (8 August 2006.) [http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/koizumispeech/2006/08/08tuito_e.html]; retrieved 9 February 2007.
*{{C-SPAN|26752}}

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{{Prime Ministers of Japan}}
{{Japanese finance ministers}}
{{Liberal Democratic Party of Japan}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hashimoto, Ryutaro}}
[[Category:1937 births]]
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[[Category:20th-century prime ministers of Japan]]
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