Kakuei Tanaka - Scandals

Scandals

In October 1974, the popular Bungei Shunju magazine wrote a critical article of Tanaka's business practices, which inspired his LDP rivals to open a public inquiry in the Diet. (Among other things, Tanaka had purchased a geisha and used her name for a number of shady land deals in Tokyo during the mid-sixties.)

His state visit to Indonesia as invited by President Soeharto to discuss Indo-Japanese trade relations was protested by a number of local anti-Japanese sentiments denying international investment, which occurred on January 15, 1974. Japanese-manufactured material and buildings were destroyed by Indonesian protesters. 11 people were dead, a further 300 were injured, and 775 protesters were arrested. As a result, the Soeharto regime dissolved the president's private counselor constitution and took control of the national security leadership. The incident henceforth became well known as the 'Malari Incident' (Peristiwa Malari).

The Diet commission called Etsuzankai's treasurer, Aki Sato, as its first witness. Unknown to the committee members, Sato and Tanaka had been involved in a romantic relationship for several years, and Tanaka took pity on Sato's troubled upbringing. Rather than let her take the stand, he announced his resignation on November 26, 1974.

The Tanaka faction supported Takeo Miki's "clean government" bid to become prime minister, and Tanaka once again became a rank-and-file Diet member.

Then, on February 6, 1976, the vice chairman of the Lockheed Corporation told a United States Senate subcommittee that Tanaka had accepted $1.8 million in bribes during his term as prime minister, in return for having Japan's parastatal airlines purchase Lockheed L-1011 aircraft (the Lockheed bribery scandals). Although Henry Kissinger tried to stop the details from making their way to the Japanese government, fearing that it would harm the two countries' security relationship, Miki pushed a bill through the Diet that requested information from the Senate. On July 27, Tanaka was arrested: he was released in August on a ¥200m (US$690,000) bond. Tanaka was located in the Tokyo Detention House.

In retaliation for Miki's actions, Tanaka persuaded his faction to vote for Fukuda in the 1976 "Lockheed Election". The two old rivals did not cooperate for long, however: in 1978, Tanaka threw his faction behind Ohira's. After Ohira died in 1980, the Tanaka faction elected Zenko Suzuki. Suzuki hated his position so much that he resigned in 1982: Tanaka responded by re-electing him.

The Lockheed trial ended on October 12, 1983. Tanaka was found guilty and sentenced to 4 years in jail. Rather than cave in, he filed an appeal and announced that he would not leave the Diet as long as his constituents supported him. This sparked a month-long war in the Diet over whether or not to censure Tanaka; eventually, Prime Minister Nakasone, himself elected by Tanaka's faction, dissolved the Diet and called for a new election.

In the "Second Lockheed Election," Tanaka retained his Diet seat by an unprecedented margin, winning more votes than any other candidate in the country. Nakasone placed six members of the Tanaka faction on his 1984 cabinet, including future prime minister Noboru Takeshita.