Zentaro Kosaka

Zentaro Kosaka (小坂 善太郎, Kosaka Zentarō, 23 January 1912[1][2] – 26 November 2000) was a Japanese politician who served as foreign minister for two times and as labor minister.

Zentaro Kosaka
小坂 善太郎
Zentaro Kosaka in 1960
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 15 September 1976 – 24 December 1976
Prime Minister	Takeo Miki
Preceded by	Kiichi Miyazawa
Succeeded by	Iichirō Hatoyama
Minister of State, Head of the Economic Planning Agency
In office 22 December 1972 – 25 November 1973
Prime Minister	Kakuei Tanaka
Preceded by	Kiichi Arita
Succeeded by	Tsuneo Uchida
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 8 December 1960 – 18 July 1962
Prime Minister	Hayato Ikeda
Preceded by	Aiichiro Fujiyama
Succeeded by	Masayoshi Ōhira
Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission
In office 1 July 1954 – 1 October 1954
Prime Minister	Shigeru Yoshida
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Naoshi Ohara
Minister of Labour
In office 21 May 1953 – 16 June 1954
Prime Minister	Shigeru Yoshida
Preceded by	Kuichiro Totsuka
Succeeded by	Saburo Chiba
Member of the House of Representatives
In office 10 April 1946 – 18 February 1990
Personal details
Born	(1912-01-23)23 January 1912 Nagano, Japan
Died	26 November 2000(2000-11-26) (aged 88) Tokyo, Japan
Political party	Liberal Democratic Party
Alma mater	Hitotsubashi University

Early life and education

Hailed from Nagano Prefecture, Kosaka was born into a politician family in 1912.[3] His grandfather, Zennosuke Kosaka, was the founder of the daily Shinano Mainichi and a politician. His father, Junzo Kosaka, was also a politician. His younger brother, Tokusaburo Kosaka, was a leading politician of the Liberal Democratic Party.[4] Zentaro Kosaka was a graduate of Tokyo University of Commerce (present-day Hitotsubashi University).[3]

Career

After graduation, Kosaka began his career at the Mitsubishi Bank. Then he worked for Shin-Etsu Chemical that was established by his father, Junzo Kosaka.[3] Later he joined the Liberal Democratic Party.[5] He was part of the faction headed by Hayato Ikeda.[6]

Kosaka first became a member of the House of Representatives in 1946, being a representative for the Nagano Prefecture.[3] He served at the lower house 16 times and held different ministerial post. On 6 September 1960, Kosaka visited Seoul, being the first Japanese official to visit South Korea since 1945.[7] He was appointed labor minister in the Yoshida Cabinet, foreign minister in the cabinets of Hayato Ikeda and Takeo Miki. His first term as foreign minister was from 8 December 1960 to 18 July 1962.[8]

In August 1966, Kosaka and Yoshimi Furui headed an eight-member LDP delegation to visit China.[6] They both held the views of right-conservatism, arguing for Japan's independence from the US and normalized relations with China.[6] After the visit, Kosaka developed a policy report, called the Kosaka Report, which was submitted to the LDP's policy affairs research council.[6]

In 1968, Kosaka stated his desire to visit Mongolia to search for the viability of economic assistance towards the country.[9] In 1970, Kosaka argued that Japan should declare a "no-war" notice in order to reduce tensions between Japan and China.[10] He was also the head of political affairs research committee in the LDP during the same period.[9] He also served as the head of economic planning agency during the term of the then Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka.[3] On 24 July 1972, Tanaka also appointed him as chairman of the newly founded Council for the normalization of Japan-China relations in the LDP.[11][12] The task of the council that consisted of 312 members was to reach a consensus, since the pro-Taiwan and pro-Peking factions over the whole peace treaty issue emerged in the party.[11] IN September 1972, Kosaka visited Pekin as special envoy of the prime minister Tanaka.[11] Then Kosaka served as deputy prime minister and visited Libya in January 1974.[13]

Kosaka was secondly appointed foreign minister in 1976.[3] In 1976, he called for a reform of the UN security council at the UN general assembly.[14] At the beginning of the 1980s, he served as the chairman of the LDP's foreign affairs research council.[15] Kosaka retired from politics in 1990.[3]

Personal life and legacy

Kosaka's son, Kenji Kosaka, is a LDP politician and former minister of education.[16] Kosaka participated his son's election campaign for the lower house in the Nagano district in 1990.[17]

The Chinese restaurant of Okura Hotel in Tokyo was named by Kosaka.[18]

Death

Kosaka died of renal failure in Tokyo on 26 November 2000.[19] He was 88.[3]

References

3. "Ex-Foreign Minister Zentaro Kosaka dies". The Japan Times. 27 November 2000. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
4. Tsuyoshi Sunora (15 May 2007). "A Missionary for 'Civilian Diplomacy'". Japan Center for International Exchange. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
5. Frank Langdon (1973). Japan's Foreign Policy. UBC Press. p. 204. ISBN 978-0-7748-0015-0. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
6. Qingxin Ken Wang (2000). Hegemonic Cooperation and Conflict: Postwar Japan's China Policy and the United States. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 145. ISBN 978-0-275-96314-9. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
7. Chong-Sik Lee (1 January 1985). Japan and Korea: The Political Dimension. Hoover Press. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-8179-8183-9. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
8. Janet Hunter (1984). Concise Dictionary of Modern Japanese History. University of California Press. p. 307. ISBN 978-0-520-04557-6. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
9. Stephen Kotkin; Bruce A. Elleman (1999). Mongolia in the Twentieth Century: Landlocked Cosmopolitan. M.E. Sharpe. p. 172. ISBN 978-0-7656-0535-1. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
10. Albert Axelbank (2 November 2010). Black Star Over Japan: Rising Forces of Militarism. Taylor & Francis. p. 78. ISBN 978-0-415-58758-7. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
11. Hsiao, Gene T. (January–March 1974). "The Sino-Japanese Rapprochement: A Relationship of Ambivalence". The China Quarterly. 57: 101–123. doi:10.1017/s0305741000010961. JSTOR 652231.
12. Gerald L. Curtis (1999). The Logic of Japanese Politics: Leaders, Institutions, and the Limits of Change. Columbia University Press. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-231-10843-0. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
13. "Negative results mark Japanese visit to Libya". Wikileaks. 29 January 1974. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
14. Kazuhiko Tōgō (1 August 2010). Japan's Foreign Policy, 1945-2009: The Quest for a Proactive Policy. BRILL. p. 378. ISBN 978-90-04-18501-2. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
15. Lohr, Steve (3 April 1982). "Japan studies offering loans to U.S. business". The New York Times. p. 31.
16. "Few surprises in new Cabinet, announced by Junichiro Koizumi". Pravda. 1 November 2005. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
17. Makihara, Kumiko (19 February 1990). "Japan In the Diet, It's All in the Family". Times. Tokyo. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
18. "History". Okura Hotel. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
19. "November 2000". Rulers. Retrieved 3 January 2013.

External links

House of Representatives of Japan
Preceded by Etsujirō Uehara	Chair, Budget Committee of the House of Representatives of Japan 1950–1951	Succeeded by Toichiro Tsukada
Party political offices
Preceded by Mikio Mizuta	Chairman of the Policy Research Council, Liberal Democratic Party 1971–1972	Succeeded by Yoshio Sakurauchi
Political offices
Preceded by Kuichiro Totsuka	Minister of Labour 1953–1954	Succeeded by Saburo Chiba
Preceded by Office established	Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission 1954	Succeeded by Naoshi Ohara
Preceded by Aiichiro Fujiyama	Minister for Foreign Affairs 1960–1962	Succeeded by Masayoshi Ōhira
Preceded by Kiichi Arita	Minister of State, Head of the Economic Planning Agency 1972–1973	Succeeded by Tsuneo Uchida
Preceded by Kiichi Miyazawa	Minister for Foreign Affairs 1976	Succeeded by Iichirō Hatoyama