Nakasone, witness to war & success, is 100

Tokyo, May 27 

It is somehow fitting in a country known for longevity that one of Japan’s most prominent former leaders has reached 100 years of age.

As a World War-II naval officer, Yasuhiro Nakasone witnessed the depths of his country’s utter defeat and devastation. Four decades later he presided over Japan in the 1980s at the pinnacle of its economic success. In recent years, he has lobbied for revision of the war-renouncing, US-drafted constitution, a longtime cause that neither he nor any successor has achieved to date.

“I feel blissful that I was able to stand up and work with the Japanese people for Japan’s reconstruction (from war devastation),” Nakasone said in a statement to mark his birthday on Sunday. “As I reflect on 100 years of my life with the changing times, many memories pass through my mind and emotions fill up my chest.”

Nakasone, who is cared for by his 71-year-old daughter at their Tokyo home, is slowing down but in fine health, his aide Masaki Donji said. He skipped his annual speech at a May rally in support of constitutional revision, because he had broken his right hand and couldn’t use his cane to get up from his wheelchair.

Still, he checks newspapers every morning and reads books, and sometimes drops by his office, escorted by his family. “Endless hunger for exploration and intellectual curiosity is crucial,” Nakasone says.

Born on May 27, 1918, the last year of World War I, Nakasone spent more than a half-century in parliament. As PM from 1982 to 1987, his nationalist legacy includes the first official visit by a postwar prime minister to Yasukuni shrine, which honors Japan’s war dead, among them convicted war criminals. 

Both nationalist and wrestling with the same issues, PM Shinzo Abe has been compared to Nakasone by some media and analysts. “The important difference between these two leaders is that Nakasone experienced the war, the real battlegrounds and saw his buddies killed. This brought some intrinsic humbleness to Nakasone, though he often looks haughty,” said Prof Hiro Aida, Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo.

Nakasone says he is not done yet. “I am determined to devote myself to my last service for the country,” he said. — AP