Yoshirō Mori

For the mathematician, see Yoshiro Mori (mathematician).

In this Japanese name, the family name is "Mori".

Yoshiro Mori 森 喜朗
Prime Minister of Japan
In office 5 April 2000 – 26 April 2001
Monarch	Akihito
Preceded by	Mikio Aoki (Acting)
Succeeded by	Junichiro Koizumi
Minister of Construction
In office 8 August 1995 – 11 January 1996
Prime Minister	Tomiichi Murayama
Preceded by	Koken Nosaka
Succeeded by	Eiichi Nakao
Minister of International Trade and Industry
In office 12 December 1992 – 20 July 1993
Prime Minister	Kiichi Miyazawa
Preceded by	Kozo Watanabe
Succeeded by	Hiroshi Kumagai
Minister of Education
In office 27 December 1983 – 1 November 1984
Prime Minister	Yasuhiro Nakasone
Preceded by	Mitsuo Setoyama
Succeeded by	Hikaru Matsunaga
Personal details
Born	(1937-07-14) 14 July 1937 Nomi, Japan
Political party	Liberal Democratic Party
Spouse(s)	Chieko Maki
Children	Yūki Mori Yoko Fujimoto
Alma mater	Waseda University
Website	Yoshiro Mori WebSite

Yoshirō Mori (森 喜朗, Mori Yoshirō, born 14 July 1937) is a Japanese politician who served as the 85th and 86th Prime Minister of Japan starting at 5 April 2000 ending 26 April 2001. Described as having "the heart of a flea and the brain of a shark," he was an unpopular prime minister mainly remembered today for his many gaffes and situationally inappropriate actions. He is currently President of the Japan Rugby Football Union as well as the Japan-Korea Parliamentarians' Union.

Early life and education

Yoshiro Mori was born in present-day Nomi, Ishikawa, Japan, as the son of Shigeki and Kaoru Mori, wealthy rice farmers with a history in politics, as both his father and grandfather served as the mayor of Neagari, Ishikawa Prefecture. His mother died when Yoshiro was seven years old. He studied at the Waseda University in Tokyo, joining the rugby union club.

Career

Afterwards Mori joined the Sankei Shimbun, a conservative newspaper in Japan. In 1962, he left the newspaper and became secretary of a Diet member, and in 1969, he was elected in the lower house at age 32. He was reelected 10 consecutive times. In 1980, he was involved in the Recruit scandal about receiving unlisted shares of Recruit (company) before they were publicly traded, and selling them after they were made public for a profit of approximately 1 million dollars. He was education minister in 1983 and 1984, international trade and industry minister in 1992 and 1993, and construction minister in 1995 and 1996.

In 1999, Mori began to assume control of the Mitsuzuka faction (formerly Abe faction) that had been headed by Hiroshi Mitsuzuka in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

Prime minister

Mori's predecessor, Keizō Obuchi, suffered a stroke on 2 April 2000 and was unable to continue this office. Therefore, Mori, who was the secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), became the prime minister.

The media attempted to criticize his position in office as marred with a long list of faux-pas, unpopular decisions, PR mistakes and gaffes:

• One of the earliest occurred at Obuchi's funeral, when Mori failed to clap and bow properly before Obuchi's shrine, an important portion of a traditional Japanese funeral rite. The other world leaders present at the funeral, including former U.S. President Bill Clinton, performed the ritual correctly.
• At a meeting of political leaders in Tokyo, Mori described Japan as "the nation of the deities, with the Emperor at its center." This "divine nation statement" stirred controversy in Japan, as the statement sounded like he was in support of offering the Emperor absolute power, which Emperor Showa explicitly renounced in the Ningen Sengen. The media reported it as a "gaffe" but Mori insisted that he meant what he said.
• During the election campaign of 2000, one of his most notable "slips of the tongue" happened in a speech in Niigata on 20 June. When asked about recent newspaper reports that showed that roughly half of the voters still had not decided whom to vote for, he replied “If they still have no interest in the election, it would be all right if they just slept in on that [election] day.” [1]
• According to the Japanese media, before the 26th G8 summit in 2000, Mori was given some English training. Upon meeting President Clinton, Mori was to say "How are you". Instead, he slipped up and said "Who are you". Clinton answered, "Well, I'm Hillary Clinton's husband", to which Mori replied, "Me too". However, this never actually happened. The media did not apologize for this fabrication.
• Mori's biggest public relations disaster was to continue a round of golf after receiving the news that the US submarine USS Greeneville had accidentally hit and sunk the Japanese fishing ship Ehime Maru during an emergency surface drill on 9 February 2001, resulting in 9 dead students and teachers.
• Mori promised then newly elected ROC President Chen Shui-bian that he would celebrate if Chen won the 2000 presidential elections. This promise was not fulfilled until late 2003, at the time Chen was running for re-election to a second term.^{citation needed}

Towards the end of his term, his approval rating dropped to single digits. He was replaced by Junichiro Koizumi on 26 April 2001.

Mori remains a member of the House of Representatives, representing the Second District of Ishikawa. He is married to Chieko (born: Chieko Maki), a fellow Waseda University student, and he has a son, Yūki Mori, and a daughter, Yoko Fujimoto. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian award, in 2004.

Cabinets

Mori appointed three cabinets. The third cabinet is officially referred to as a continuation of the second cabinet, as the changes came amid a major administrative realignment in January 2001 that eliminated several cabinet positions and renamed several key ministries.

Cabinets of Yoshiro Mori

	First Cabinet (April 2000)	Second Cabinet (July 2000)	Second Cabinet, Realigned (Jan. 2001)
Chief Cabinet Secretary and Okinawa Development	Mikio Aoki	Yasuo Fukuda	Chief Cabinet Secretary	Yasuo Fukuda
			Administrative Reform, Okinawa and Northern Territories	Ryutaro Hashimoto
Foreign Affairs	Yōhei Kōno	Yōhei Kōno	Yōhei Kōno
Justice	Hideo Usui	Okiharu Yasuoka	Masahiko Komura
Finance	Kiichi Miyazawa	Kiichi Miyazawa	Kiichi Miyazawa
Education	Hirofumi Nakasone	Tadamori Oshima	Nobutaka Machimura
Health and Welfare	Yuya Niwa	Yūji Tsushima	Health, Labor and Welfare	Chikara Sakaguchi
Labor	Takamori Makino	Yoshio Yoshikawa
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries	Tokuichiro Tamazawa	Yoichi Tani	Yoshio Yatsu
International Trade and Industry	Takashi Fukaya	Takeo Hiranuma	Economy, Trade and Industry	Takeo Hiranuma
Transport	Toshihiro Nikai	Hajime Morita	Land, Infrastructure and Transport	Chikage Oogi
Construction	Masaaki Nakayama	Chikage Oogi
Home Affairs	Kosuke Hori	Mamoru Nishida	Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications	Toranosuke Katayama
Posts and Telecommunications	Eita Yashiro	Kozo Hirabayashi
Management and Coordination Agency	Kunihiro Tsuzuki	Kunihiro Tsuzuki
Japan Defense Agency	Tsutomu Kawara	Kazuo Torashima	Toshitsugu Saito
Economic Planning Agency	Taichi Sakaiya	Taichi Sakaiya	Economic and Fiscal Policy	Tarō Asō
Environment	Kayoko Shimizu	Yoriko Kawaguchi	Yoriko Kawaguchi
Financial Reconstruction	Sadakazu Tanigaki	Hideyuki Aizawa	Financial Affairs	Hakuo Yanagisawa
			National Public Safety Commission	Bunmei Ibuki
			Council for Science and Technology Policy	Takashi Sasagawa

Resignation from politics

On Sunday July 22, 2012 Mori announced that he would not run in the next house of representatives election.

Japanese Rugby

Mori played the game of rugby union at Waseda University and developed a passion for it there, though he was never a high-level player. In June 2005, he became President of the Japan Rugby Football Union and it had been hoped his clout would help secure the 2011 Rugby Union World Cup for Japan, but instead the event was awarded to New Zealand in late November 2005. This led former PM Yoshiro Mori to accuse the Commonwealth countries of "passing the ball around their friends." (However at a special IRB meeting held in Dublin on 28 July 2009, Japan was announced as the host for the 2019 RWC.)

Once when he discussed his relationship with the other parties in the ruling coalition, he stated, "In rugby, one person doesn't become a star, one person plays for all, and all play for one."

Gallery

• 

  Mori at the grave of his father in Shelekhov

• 

  Mori with Vladimir Putin on 25 March 2001.

• 

  Mori with George W. Bush

References

• Richards, Huw A Game for Hooligans: The History of Rugby Union (Mainstream Publishing, Edinburgh, 2007, ISBN 978-1-84596-255-5)

External links

• Official website (in Japanese)

Political offices
Preceded by Mikio Aoki Acting	Prime Minister of Japan 2000–2001	Succeeded by Junichiro Koizumi
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Mikio Aoki	Chair of the G8 2000	Succeeded by Giuliano Amato