Editing Sōsuke Uno

{{Short description|Prime Minister of Japan in 1989}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix    = 
| name                = Sōsuke Uno
| native_name         = {{nobold|宇野 宗佑}}
| native_name_lang    = ja
| image               = Sosuke Uno 19890603.jpg
| caption             = Official portrait, 1989
| office              = [[Prime Minister of Japan]]
| monarch             = [[Akihito]]
| term_start          = 3 June 1989
| term_end            = 10 August 1989
| predecessor         = [[Noboru Takeshita]]
| successor           = [[Toshiki Kaifu]]
| office1             = [[President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)|President of the Liberal Democratic Party]]
| 1blankname1         = {{nowrap|[[Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party|Secretary-General]]}}
| 1namedata1          = [[Ryutaro Hashimoto]]
| term_start1         = 2 June 1989
| term_end1           = 8 August 1989
| predecessor1        = Noboru Takeshita
| successor1          = Toshiki Kaifu
{{collapsed infobox section begin |last=yes | Ministerial offices |titlestyle       = border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}
{{Infobox officeholder |embed=yes
| office2             = [[Minister for Foreign Affairs (Japan)|Minister for Foreign Affairs]]
| primeminister2      = Noboru Takeshita
| term_start2         = 8 November 1987
| term_end2           = 3 June 1989
| predecessor2        = [[Tadashi Kuranari]]
| successor2          = [[Hiroshi Mitsuzuka]]
| office3             = [[Ministry of International Trade and Industry|Minister of International Trade and Industry]]
| primeminister3      = [[Yasuhiro Nakasone]]
| term_start3         = 10 June 1983
| term_end3           = 27 November 1983
| predecessor3        = [[Sadanori Yamanaka]]
| successor3          = [[Hikosaburo Okonogi]]
| office4             = Director-General of the Administrative Management Agency
| primeminister4      = [[Masayoshi Ōhira]]
| term_start4         = 9 November 1979
| term_end4           = 17 July 1980
| predecessor4        = [[Motohiko Kanai]]
| successor4          = Yasuhiro Nakasone
| office5             = Director-General of the Science and Technology Agency
| primeminister5      = [[Takeo Fukuda]]
| term_start5         = 24 December 1976
| term_end5           = 28 November 1977
| predecessor5        = [[Masao Maeda]]
| successor5          = [[Tasaburo Kumagai]]
| office6             = [[Minister of Defense (Japan)#Minister of State, Head or Director General of the Japan Defense Agency|Director-General of the Japan Defense Agency]]
| primeminister6      = [[Kakuei Tanaka]]
| term_start6         = 11 November 1974
| term_end6           = 9 December 1974
| predecessor6        = [[Sadanori Yamanaka]]
| successor6          = [[Michita Sakata]]
{{Collapsed infobox section end}}}}
| office7             = Member of the [[House of Representatives (Japan)|House of Representatives]]
| constituency7       = [[Shiga at-large district (House of Representatives)|Shiga at-large]]
| term_start7         = 20 November 1960
| term_end7           = 20 October 1996
| predecessor7        = ''Multi-member district''
| successor7          = ''Constituency abolished''
| office8             = Member of the Shiga Prefectural Assembly
| constituency8       = 
| term_start8         = 1951
| term_end8           = 1958
| predecessor8        = 
| successor8          = 
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|1922|8|27|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Moriyama, Shiga]], [[Empire of Japan]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1998|5|19|1922|8|27|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Moriyama]], [[Shiga]], [[Japan]]
| signature           = UnoS kao.png
| spouse              = {{marriage|Chiyo Hirose|1949}}
| relatives           = [[Osamu Uno]] (son-in-law)
| party               = [[Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)|Liberal Democratic]]
| otherparty          = [[Liberal Party (Japan, 1945)|Liberal]] (1945–1947)<br>[[Democratic Party (Japan, 1947)|Democratic]] (1947–1950)
| alma_mater          = [[Kobe University|Kobe University of Commerce]]
| module              = {{Infobox military person | embed=yes
   |nickname=
   |allegiance= {{flag|Japan}}
   |branch= {{army|Empire of Japan}}
   |serviceyears= 1943–45
   |rank=[[Second Lieutenant]]
   |unit=
   |commands=
   |battles=
{{tree list}}
* [[Second World War]]
** [[Soviet–Japanese War (1945)|Soviet-Japanese War]]
*** [[Soviet invasion of Manchuria]]
{{tree list/end}}
   |awards=
}}
}}
{{nihongo|'''Sōsuke Uno'''|宇野 宗佑|Uno Sōsuke|extra=27 August 1922 &ndash; 19 May 1998}} was a Japanese [[politician]] and former [[Prime Minister of Japan]].

Born in [[Shiga Prefecture]], Uno enrolled in the [[Kobe University|Kobe College of Commerce]] before he was conscripted into the army during [[World War II]]. In 1960, he entered politics and was elected to the [[National Diet]], becoming a leading [[Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)|Liberal Democratic Party]] member and a key ally of [[Yasuhiro Nakasone]]. Uno served as director of the [[Defense Agency]] under [[Kakuei Tanaka]], as director of the [[Japan Science and Technology Agency|Science and Technology Agency]] under [[Takeo Fukuda]], and as director of the Administrative Management Agency under [[Masayoshi Ōhira]]. 

He was briefly international trade and industry minister in 1983, and foreign minister in 1987–1989. In 1989, Uno became prime minister but served for only two months before he resigned after a poor showing in [[1989 Japanese House of Councillors election|that year's upper house]] election, influenced by the lingering [[Recruit scandal]] and public financial scandal with an outspoken [[geisha]].

==Early life and education ==
[[File:Sosuke Uno 1952.jpg|thumb|Sōsuke Uno (at the [[:ja:守山映画劇場|Daikokuza Theatre]] on 1952). ]]
Uno was born in [[Moriyama, Shiga]]. His family owned a [[sake]] brewery called Arachō, and had served as town officials (Japanese: ''Toshiyori''). The family had previously ran a hotel and a general store in his birth home.<ref>{{Cite web |title=守山宿・町家「うの家（け）」 |url=http://www.unoke.jp/history.php |access-date=2022-05-07 |website=Unoke}}</ref>

In 1943, he graduated from Hikone Commercial College (later, [[Shiga University]]) where he led Hikone Commercial College to the national champion of [[Kendo]] among the commercial universities and colleges in Japan and attended the [[Kobe University|Kobe College of Commerce]] but had to leave the University two months later after the enrollment because he was called into the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] as an officer during [[World War II]].<ref name="uno">[https://blog.goo.ne.jp/ntt000012/e/fad36a412f47e0b034a8c3c3877f6971 【滋賀・近江の先人第120回】滋賀県初の第75代内閣総理大臣・宇野宗佑（守山市）]{{in lang|ja}}</ref><ref name="note">[https://note.com/songtenor0506/n/n77476f23282f 政治家の履歴書・総理編 ～宇野宗佑～]{{in lang|ja}}</ref> After the war, he was sent to [[Siberia]] as a prisoner.<ref name="uno" /> He never came back to [[Kobe University|Kobe College of Commerce]] again.<ref name="uno" />

As well as a politician, Uno was an accomplished writer, who wrote a book considered classic in Japan about his experiences as a prisoner of war in [[Siberia]].

==Political career==
In 1960, he entered politics, winning election to the [[Diet of Japan]]. Six years later, he was promoted to Vice-Minister at the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, then similar positions with the Science and Technology Agency, then the Administrative Agency until earning his place in Cabinet as Minister for Trade and Industry and then Foreign Secretary until he was Prime Minister. Whilst Foreign Secretary (in what were conflicted times) he was applauded for his tact as foreign secretary, navigating international demands for increased Japanese contributions to international commerce with stern loyalty to his own nation's interests.

In 1974, he served briefly as [[Minister of Defense (Japan)#Minister of State, Head or Director General of the Japan Defense Agency|Director General of the Japan Defense Agency]]. As the Foreign Minister under then-Prime Minister [[Noboru Takeshita|Takeshita]], Uno became the first Japanese [[Cabinet of Japan|Cabinet]] member to visit [[Israel]] since the [[1973 oil crisis]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fukui |first=Haruhiro |date=1989-01-01 |title=Japan in 1988: At the End of an Era |url=https://online.ucpress.edu/as/article/29/1/1/22502/Japan-in-1988-At-the-End-of-an-Era |journal=Asian Survey |language=en |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=1–11 |doi=10.2307/2644511 |issn=0004-4687 |jstor=2644511}}</ref> Uno's career reached a peak in the most fraught times his party had seen, as he took the reins of his party after the [[Recruit Scandal]], when 47 Japanese MPs (including mostly other members from his own Liberal Democrat Party) were found guilty of taking bribes and unfair trading. Of all prime-ministerial candidates, only Uno was free of blame from them, and he was given charge over the party, the government, and Japan. By this stage he had served his country for almost fifty years, and was placed in office on 3 June 1989.

==Geisha affair==
[[File:Sōsuke Uno Cabinet 19890603.jpg|thumb|Uno with the Ministers of Uno Government (at the [[Prime Minister's Official Residence (Japan)|Prime Minister's Official Residence]] on June 3, 1989)]]
Uno encountered public scandal in 1989, when accused by the [[Geisha]] entertainer Mitsuko Nakanishi<ref>{{cite web |last1=Carter |first1=Paul |date=23 October 2011 |title=Obituary: Sosuke Uno |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-sosuke-uno-1158611.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220526/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-sosuke-uno-1158611.html |archive-date=2022-05-26 |access-date=28 May 2020 |website=independent.co.uk |publisher=The Independent}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Weisman |first1=Steve R. |date=10 June 1989 |title=Ex-Geisha Accuses Uno Of a Dangerous Liaison |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/10/world/ex-geisha-accuses-uno-of-a-dangerous-liaison.html |access-date=28 May 2020 |website=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> of being "immoral" and ungenerous in his financial support during their four-month affair in 1986. Nakanishi would claim in following newspaper interviews that Uno had treated older geisha with arrogance and contempt, had not paid the appropriate fee of ¥300,000 per month (roughly US$2,100 at the time) for her company of four months, and had not provided a traditional parting gift (a further monetary fee) as had been customary in geisha etiquette.

A ''[[Washington Post]]'' article published in July 1989 brought international attention to the affair,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Blustein |first1=Paul |date=19 July 1989 |title=THE FEMINIST GEISHA |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1989/07/19/the-feminist-geisha/e8348ea5-5042-48a8-96a1-0fffcc521614/ |access-date=28 May 2020 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> with some senior geisha denouncing Nakanishi as a whistleblower, effectively compromising the discreet nature of the profession and violated the traditionalist norms by engaging with political and economic affairs in the public sphere. Nakanishi later quit the profession after she was criticized by the Geisha [[Gion]] Committee. She later remarried another man and divorced, attended a [[Shingon]] Buddhist school temple in [[Shiga Prefecture]], and held various secretarial jobs unrelated to the geisha community. Due to the severity of the scandal, Nakanishi's own son disowned her during this time.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

[[File:Town Council Visiting Oak Ridge Fire Department (6883074718) (2).jpg|thumb|Sōsuke Uno (at the [[Energy Research and Development Administration]] on 14 September 1977). ]] 

Uno was highly criticized in public not for having a Geisha mistress, as it was a traditional leisure practice expected of politicians and wealthy men but instead due to relating his poor financial habits in the [[Japanese Diet]] as compared and paralleled to the ungenerosity towards his former Geisha mistress. Furthermore, the Geisha was outspoken in public and even made allegations and political suggestions in properly handling the Japanese economy, an unconventional behavior not expected of a traditionalist woman (Geisha culture) in which further exacerbated the situation. 

To avoid further scandal, Sōsuke Uno resigned as prime minister on 10 August 1989 after just 68 days in office, but continued to serve his country in various government posts until he retired fully in 1996. On 29 April 1994, he was awarded with the highest possible honour for an ordinary civilian, the Grand Cordon of the [[Order of the Paulownia Flowers|Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Uno Sōsuke {{pipe}} prime minister of Japan |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Uno-Sosuke}}</ref>

==Death==
At 72 years of age, Uno then enjoyed a peaceful retirement in [[Moriyama]] city. He died on 19 May 1998 in his private home. He had two daughters from
his wife, Mrs. Chiyo Uno. He published two collections of [[Haiku]] poems, as well as his book on prisonership in [[Siberia]], along with painting, poetry, and music. A year later in 1999, his Geisha affair was highlighted in the ''Secret Life of Geisha'', a TV documentary.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Secret Life of Geisha (TV Series 1999– ) |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0274282/ |website=[[IMDb]]}}</ref>

==Honours==

*[[Order of the Paulownia Flowers|Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers]] -  (29 April 1994)

==References==
{{Portal|Japan|Biography|Politics
}}
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last=West |first=Mark D. |date=2006 |title=Secrets, Sex, and Spectacle: The Rules of Scandal in Japan and the United States |isbn=978-0-226-89408-9 |url=https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo4138559.html |publisher=Chicago University Press}}

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{{s-end}}

{{Prime Ministers of Japan}}
{{Japanese foreign ministers}}
{{Liberal Democratic Party of Japan}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uno, Sosuke}}
[[Category:1922 births]]
[[Category:1998 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century prime ministers of Japan]]
[[Category:Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) politicians]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)]]
[[Category:Liberal Democratic Party prime ministers of Japan]]
[[Category:Ministers for foreign affairs of Japan]]
[[Category:Ministers of defense of Japan]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers]]
[[Category:Kobe University alumni]]
[[Category:Imperial Japanese Army officers]]
[[Category:Imperial Japanese Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Siberian internees]]
[[Category:Politicians from Shiga Prefecture]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Uno, Sosuke}}