Synopses & Reviews
The most important Japanese politician of the late twentieth century! Tanaka, a corrupt populist politician from a humble background, helped shape Japanese politics of the period. Throws light on the modern history of Japan and Postwar Japanese politics. A brand new title in the very popular "Profiles in Power" series. Tanaka is indisputably "the most important Japanese politician of the late twentieth century." A populist politician from a very humble background in a poor part of the country, he had a popular appeal for the Japanese masses that was unsurpassed by rival and better-connected politicians. More importantly still, he helped shape the political climate of modern Japan, particularly in terms of his corruption and sinister connections with business and organized crime. He does in that sense, encapsulate an era. His career both as an embodiment of his times but also as a shaper of them illuminates the peculiar character of Japanese politics in his time. "Tanaka" the new title in the "Profiles in Power" series, is not a biography, though inevitably it contains much biographical material, it instead analyzes the major features, achievements and failures of Tanaka's career.
Synopsis
Kakuei Tanaka was the most powerful politician in Japan for nearly two decades, and his followers have dominated Japanese politics for most of the country's recent history. This account of the life and times of Tanaka explores the public profile and private power-broking of a controversial and powerful politician, opening up in the process the intimate political history of modern Japan.