Sōsuke Uno facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sōsuke Uno
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宇 野 宗 佑
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| Prime Minister of Japan | |
| In office 3 June 1989 – 10 August 1989 |
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| Monarch | Akihito |
| Preceded by | Noboru Takeshita |
| Succeeded by | Toshiki Kaifu |
| Minister for Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 8 November 1987 – 3 June 1989 |
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| Prime Minister | Noboru Takeshita |
| Preceded by | Tadashi Kuranari |
| Succeeded by | Hiroshi Mitsuzuka |
| Minister of International Trade and Industry | |
| In office 10 June 1983 – 27 November 1983 |
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| Prime Minister | Yasuhiro Nakasone |
| Preceded by | Sadanori Yamanaka |
| Succeeded by | Hikosaburo Okonogi |
| Director General of the Administrative Management Agency | |
| In office 9 November 1979 – 17 July 1980 |
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| Prime Minister | Masayoshi Ōhira |
| Preceded by | Motohiko Kanai |
| Succeeded by | Yasuhiro Nakasone |
| Director General of the Science and Technology Agency | |
| In office 24 December 1976 – 28 November 1977 |
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| Prime Minister | Takeo Fukuda |
| Preceded by | Masao Maeda |
| Succeeded by | Tasaburo Kumagai |
| Director General of the Japan Defense Agency | |
| In office 11 November 1974 – 9 December 1974 |
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| Prime Minister | Kakuei Tanaka |
| Preceded by | Sadanori Yamanaka |
| Succeeded by | Michita Sakata |
| Member of the House of Representatives | |
| In office 20 November 1960 – 20 October 1996 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | 27 August 1922 Moriyama, Shiga, Empire of Japan |
| Died | 19 May 1998 (aged 75) Moriyama, Shiga, Japan |
| Political party | Liberal Democratic Party |
| Alma mater | Kobe University of Commerce |
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| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  Japan |
| Service/ |
 Imperial Japanese Army |
| Years of service | 1943–45 |
| Rank | Second Lieutenant |
| Battles/wars | Second World War
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Sōsuke Uno (宇野 宗佑, Uno Sōsuke, 27 August 1922 – 19 May 1998) was a Japanese politician who was briefly Prime Minister of Japan in 1989, the first Prime Minister who came from Shiga Prefecture. A scandal exposed by the geisha Mitsuko Nakanishi contributed to his premature resignation from office after just sixty-eight days.
Early life and education
Uno was born in Moriyama, Shiga. His family owned a sake brewery called Arachō, and had served as town officials (toshiyori). The family had previously ran a hotel and a general store in his birth home.
In 1943, he graduated from Hikone Commercial College (later, Shiga University) where he led Hikone Commercial College to the national champion of Kendo among the commercial universities and colleges in Japan and attended the Kobe College of Commerce but had to leave the University two months later after the enrollment because he was called into the Imperial Japanese Army as an officer during World War II. After the war, he was sent to Siberia as a prisoner. He never came back to Kobe College of Commerce again.
As well as a politician, Uno was an accomplished writer, who wrote a book considered classic in Japan about his experiences as a prisoner of war in Siberia.
Political career
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In 1960, he entered politics, winning election to the Diet of Japan. Six years later, he was promoted to Vice-Minister at the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, then similar positions with the Science and Technology Agency, then the Administrative Agency until earning his place in Cabinet as Minister for Trade and Industry and then Foreign Secretary until he was Prime Minister. Whilst Foreign Secretary (in what were conflicted times) he was applauded for his tact as foreign secretary, navigating international demands for increased Japanese contributions to international commerce with stern loyalty to his own nation's interests.
In 1974, he served briefly as Director General of the Japan Defense Agency. As the Foreign Minister under then-Prime Minister Takeshita, Uno became the first Japanese Cabinet member to visit Israel since the 1973 oil crisis. Uno's career reached a peak in the most fraught times his party had seen, as he took the reins of his party after the Recruit Scandal, when 47 Japanese MPs (including mostly other members from his own Liberal Democrat Party) were found guilty of taking bribes and unfair trading. Of all prime-ministerial candidates, only Uno was free of blame from them, and he was given charge over the party, the government, and Japan. By this stage he had served his country for almost fifty years, and was placed in office on 3 June 1989.
Geisha affair
Uno encountered public scandal in 1989, when accused by the Geisha entertainer Mitsuko Nakanishi of being "immoral" and stingy in his financial support during their four-month affair in 1986. Nakanishi would claim in following newspaper interviews that Uno had treated older geisha with arrogance and contempt, had not paid the appropriate fee of ¥300,000 per month (roughly US$21,000 at the time) for her company of four months, and had not provided a traditional parting gift (a further monetary fee) as had been custom in geisha etiquette.
A Washington Post article published in July 1989 brought international attention to the affair, with some geisha denouncing Nakanishi as a whistleblower, effectively compromising the discreet nature of the profession and engaging with political and economic affairs in the public sphere. Nakanishi later quit the profession, remarried and divorced once, attended a Shingon Buddhist school temple in Shiga Prefecture, and held various jobs unrelated to the geisha community. Due to the severity of the scandal, Nakanishi's own son disowned her during this time.
To avoid further scandal, Sōsuke Uno resigned as prime minister on 10 August 1989 after just 68 days in office, but continued to serve his country in various government posts until he retired fully in 1996. On 29 April 1994, he was awarded with the highest possible honour for a non-head-of-state, the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers.
Death
At 72 years of age, Uno then enjoyed a peaceful retirement in Moriyama city. He died on 19 May 1998 in his private home. He had two daughters from his wife. He published two collections of Haiku poems, as well as his book on prisonership in Siberia, along with painting, poetry, and music. A year later in 1999, his Geisha affair was highlighted in the Secret Life of Geisha, a TV documentary.
Honours
- Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers - (29 April 1994)
See also
In Spanish: Sōsuke Uno para niños
