Sōsuke Uno

Sōsuke Uno
宇野 宗佑
Uno in 1977
47th Prime Minister of Japan
In office 3 June 1989 – 10 August 1989
Monarch	Akihito
Preceded by	Noboru Takeshita
Succeeded by	Toshiki Kaifu
Minister for Foreign Affairs
In office 8 November 1987 – 3 June 1989
Prime Minister	Noboru Takeshita
Preceded by	Tadashi Kuranari
Succeeded by	Hiroshi Mitsuzuka
Minister of International Trade and Industry
In office 10 June 1983 – 27 November 1983
Prime Minister	Yasuhiro Nakasone
Preceded by	Sadanori Yamanaka
Succeeded by	Hikosaburo Okonogi
Director General of the Administrative Management Agency
In office 9 November 1979 – 17 July 1980
Prime Minister	Masayoshi Ōhira
Preceded by	Motohiko Kanai
Succeeded by	Yasuhiro Nakasone
Director General of the Science and Technology Agency
In office 24 December 1976 – 28 November 1977
Prime Minister	Takeo Fukuda
Preceded by	Masao Maeda
Succeeded by	Tasaburo Kumagai
Director General of the Japan Defense Agency
In office 11 November 1974 – 9 December 1974
Prime Minister	Kakuei Tanaka
Preceded by	Sadanori Yamanaka
Succeeded by	Michita Sakata
Personal details
Born	(1922-08-27)27 August 1922 Moriyama, Shiga, Japan
Died	19 May 1998(1998-05-19) (aged 75) Moriyama, Shiga, Japan
Political party	Liberal Democratic Party
Alma mater	Kobe University of Commerce
Signature
Military career
Allegiance	Japan
Service/branch	Imperial Japanese Army
Years of service	1943-1945
Rank	Second Lieutenant
Battles/wars	Second World War Soviet-Japanese War Soviet invasion of Manchuria

Sōsuke Uno (宇野 宗佑, Uno Sōsuke, 27 August 1922 – 19 May 1998) was a Japanese politician and the 47th Prime Minister of Japan from 3 June 1989 to 10 August 1989.

Biography

He was born in Moriyama, Shiga and attended the Kobe University of Commerce. After serving as an officer in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, he entered politics, winning election to the Diet of Japan in 1960.

Uno's main action as prime minister was to institute the country's first consumption tax, which immediately caused an uproar among many voters and led to the Japan Socialist Party's victory in the Tokyo metropolitan legislative election of 1989. Uno's government was also hurt by repercussive effects from the Recruit Scandal of 1988. Uno assumed office on 3 June 1989.

Uno eventually had to resign after less than three months amid a sex scandal revealed by a geisha.^[1][2] The controversy surrounding Uno's extramarital affair was more focused on irresponsibility to support the Geisha rather than immorality; Uno supposedly did not properly provide and support his mistress with an appropriate amount, which led her to complain publicly, and he was branded as a stingy man. The story was not widely publicized in Japan until a Washington Post reporter picked up the story from the Mainichi Shimbun, bringing international attention to Uno.

Following Uno's resignation, most LDP lawmakers refused to associate with him, and he quickly lost control over his faction within the party.

He died in Moriyama.

Honours

From the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia

• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers (29 April 1994)

References

Further reading

• West, Mark D. (2006). Secrets, Sex, and Spectacle: The Rules of Scandal in Japan and the United States. Chicago University Press. ISBN 978-0-226-89408-9.