Mori Yoshiro

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. Afterwards he 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 Cosmos 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.

Prime Minister

Mori's predecessor, Keizo Obuchi, suffered a stroke on April 2, 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.

His position in office was 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 George H.W. Bush, performed the ritual correctly.^{citation needed}

On meeting U.S. President Bill Clinton in the 26th G8 summit in Okinawa Prefecture, he asked Clinton "Who are you?", with the intention of saying "How are you?". Since Clinton thought it was a joke, he answered (in English) "I'm Hillary's husband, and you?", to which Mori answered "Me, too". However, this story may be apocryphal.^{citation needed}

At a meeting of Shinto leaders in Tokyo, Mori described Japan as "the nation of the gods, 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.^{citation needed}

During the election campaign of 2000, one of his most notable "slips of the tongue" happened in a speech in Niigata on June 20. 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]

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 February 9, 2001, resulting in 9 dead students and teachers.^{citation needed}

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}

Mori was not particularly popular at any time during his term;^{citation needed} toward the end of his term, his approval rating dropped to single digits. He was replaced by Junichiro Koizumi on April 26, 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.

Although he was retired, his effects have remained until Yasuo Fukuda. Mori, Koizumi, Abe and Fukuda all came from the faction known as Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyukai (清和政策研究会).

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

Foreign Affairs

Justice

Finance

Education

Health and Welfare

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

Construction

Home Affairs

Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications

Toranosuke Katayama

Posts and Telecommunications

Eita Yashiro

Kozo Hirabayashi

Management and Coordination Agency

Economic Planning Agency

Taichi Sakaiya

Economic and Fiscal Policy

Tarō Asō

Environment

Kayoko Shimizu

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

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.