Editing Kakuei Tanaka (section)

===Etsuzankai===
[[File:Kakuei_Tanaka_PM.jpg|thumb|left|Kakuei Tanaka in October 1954]]
Tanaka's most important support base, however, was a group called ''Etsuzankai'' (越山会, literally "Niigata Mountain Association").  Etsuzankai's function was to screen various petitions from villagers in rural parts of Niigata.  Tanaka would answer these petitions with government-funded [[pork barrel]] projects.  In turn, the local villagers all financially supported Etsuzankai, which, in its turn, funded the re-election campaigns of local Diet members, including Tanaka.  At its peak, Etsuzankai had 100,000 members.

The projects funded by Etsuzankai included the [[Tadami River]] [[hydroelectric power]] project, the [[New Shimizu Tunnel]], and, perhaps most infamously, the [[Jōetsu Shinkansen]] [[high-speed rail]] line.{{Citation needed|date=January 2024}}

During the 1950s, Tanaka brought Etsuzankai members to his residence in Tokyo by bus, met with each of them individually, and then provided them with tours of the Diet and Imperial Palace.  This practice made Etsuzankai the most tightly knit political organization in Japanese history, and it also furthered Tanaka's increasingly gangster-like image.