Sato Eisaku

Eisaku Sato (Japanese: Sato Sakaeaku/sugar Esaku, Romanized: Satō Eisaku, March 27, 1901 - June 3, 1975), a Japanese politician and former Japanese Prime Minister (Prime Minister), was in power for 7 years and 8 months. He was once the Japanese Prime Minister with the longest consecutive term (only surpassed by Shinzo Abe in August 2020). His brother Kishi Nobusuke was also the Prime Minister. He is also the maternal uncle of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Nobusuke Kishi, Eisaku Sato, and Shinzo Abe are known as "three prime ministers from one family" and "three prime ministers from one family". In 1924, he graduated from the Faculty of Law of Tokyo Imperial University and began working in the Ministry of Railways. In 1946, he became the Director-General of the Railways, and in 1947, he became the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Transport. Joined the Liberal Party (one of the predecessors of the Liberal Democratic Party) in 1948. When Yoshida Shigeru was the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, Yoshida expelled a large number of party members, and the bureaucratic faction gained power. In particular, Sato and Ikeda Yuuto were promoted many times. In 1948, he was appointed Chief Cabinet Secretary by Yoshida. In January 1949, he became a member of the House of Representatives (subsequently re-elected 11 times). In February 1949, he was appointed Chairman of the Political Consultative Committee of the Liberal Party. In the 1954 shipbuilding scandal, fortunately, the then Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru asked Justice Minister Inukai Ken to activate the prosecutorial command and avoid arrest, but the Yoshida cabinet collapsed as a result. Japan during Sato's period was a golden age of rapid growth, and he achieved remarkable achievements during his tenure. In addition to the opening of the Tomei Expressway and Meishin Expressway connecting Tokyo and Kobe, the construction of the Sanyo Shinkansen was also approved. Compared with his predecessor Yuto Ikeda who focused on non-economic matters, Sato dealt with other more complex political issues, such as the left-wing student protest movement that was raging during the Vietnam War, and was successfully suppressed. In 1969, Japan's factory economy boomed, surpassing West Germany and becoming the second largest economy in the free world. In addition to maintaining an average economic growth rate of over 10%, Sato successfully regained the control of Okinawa from the United States through mediation and incorporated it into Japanese territory. It also improved the problems left over from history between Japan and South Korea. Then Eisaku Sato won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1974 for promoting Japan's denuclearization and promoting reconciliation in Asia. During the Sato era, Japan still tried its best to favor the Republic of China in diplomacy, opposed and obstructed the People's Republic of China. It was also the last Japanese prime minister to visit Taiwan during his term, and he was a well-known pro-Taiwan faction. However, due to the diplomatic impact of Nixon and the rapid rise of Tanaka Kakuei in his later period, Sato was unable to appoint his preferred successor, Takeo Fukuda.