Ichiro Nakagawa

Ichiro Nakagawa
中川 一郎
Ichiro Nakagawa in 1982
Director General of the Science and Technology Agency
In office 7 July 1980 – 27 November 1982
Prime Minister	Zenkō Suzuki
Preceded by	Yuji Osada
Succeeded by	Takaaki Yasuda
Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
In office 5 July 1978 – 7 December 1978
Prime Minister	Takeo Fukuda
Preceded by	Himself
Succeeded by	Michio Watanabe
Minister of Agriculture and Forestry
In office 28 November 1977 – 5 July 1978
Prime Minister	Takeo Fukuda
Preceded by	Zenkō Suzuki
Succeeded by	Himself
Personal details
Born	9 March 1925 Hiroo, Hokkaido, Japan
Died	9 January 1983(1983-01-09) (aged 57) Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
Political party	Liberal Democratic Party
Alma mater	Kyushu Imperial University

Ichiro Nakagawa (中川 一郎, Nakagawa Ichirō; 9 March 1925 – 9 January 1983) was a Japanese politician from Hokkaidō. He was a significant leader of the right-wing of the Liberal Democratic Party.

Biography

Early life and career

Ichiro Nakagawa was born on 9 March 1925 in a poor village in Hokkaido, where his family had settled. Nakagawa did well in school and went on to study agriculture at Kyushu University, after which he began working for the Hokkaido Development Agency.

Nakagawa's turn towards politics came due to his encounter with Banboku Ono, an influential politician who was appointed director general of the Hokkaido Development Agency in 1954. By his own account Nakagawa was called to Ono's office after having slept through his inaugural speech, but Ono was amused rather than annoyed and decided to make Nakagawa his secretary. After Ono left his position, Nakagawa left the agency to become Ono's secretary.

Diet member

With Ono's support, Nakagawa ran as a LDP candidate for Hokkaido 5th district in the 1963 House of Representatives election and was elected. Nakagawa joined the Ono faction, but after Ono died in 1964 the faction split between Ono's lieutenants, Naka Funada and Isamu Murakami, and Nakagawa joined the Funada faction. He also developed a close relationship to Takeo Fukuda, whom he twice served under as parliamentary vice minister when Fukuda was minister of finance.

In 1973, Nakagawa, along with Shintaro Ishihara, Michio Watanabe, Koichi Hamada and others, formed a cross-factional rightist group of junior LDP Diet members, called the Seirankai, or Blue Storm Society. Nakagawa was the leader of the Seirankai, which received notoriety for its members signing a pledge in blood.

After Takeo Fukuda was elected LDP president and prime minister in December 1976 Nakagawa was made chief of the LDP National Movement Headquarters, and when Fukuda reshuffled his cabinet in November 1977 Nakagawa entered as Minister of Agriculture.

Nakagawa served as director general of the Science and Technology Agency under Zenko Suzuki. He ran in the November 1982 LDP presidential election to succeed Suzuki, but lost in fourth place.

Death and legacy

Nakagawa was found to have committed suicide by hanging at a hotel in Sapporo on 9 January 1983. The cause of death was initially reported as a heart attack and Nakagawa's friend and Diet colleague Masaaki Takagi admitted to having asked the physician to cover up the true cause at the urging of the family. Nakagawa did not leave a suicide note and rumours abounded regarding the motive.

Personal life

Nakagawa's eldest son was Shōichi Nakagawa, a House of Representatives member. Shōichi also committed suicide in 2009. Nakagawa's younger brother is Yoshio Nakagawa.

References

Bibliography

• Kishima, Takako (1991). Political Life in Japan: Democracy in a Reversible World. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-07895-5.
• Blaker, Michael (2002). "Negotiations on Orange Imports, 1977—1988". Case Studies in Japanese Negotiating Behavior. Washington D.C.: United States Institute of Peace.