Former Japan PM Yasuhiro Nakasone Dies At Age of 101

Former Prime Minister of Japan, Yasuhiro Nakasone died in a hotel in Tokyo on Friday morning. He was 101 years old. Nakasone served as the Prime Minister and President of the Liberal Democratic Party from 1982 to 1987. He was known for his close ties with former US President Ronald Reagan. Their strong friendship has been known as Ron-Yasu.

In recent years, he had advocated for the amendment of the war-torn US Draft Constitution. Apart from this, a lot of work was done for the development of Japan in his life. Condemning the American occupation that lasted from 1945 to 1952, he began his political career as an avid nationalist, but by the 1980s he was a staunch ally of the United States for his cordial relationship with President Ronald Reagan. He especially worked in the defense sector. He won a seat in the year 1947, becoming the youngest member of Parliament at the age of 28. In the year 1947 India was liberated from British India.

Nakasone became a prominent figure in the Liberal Democratic Party who dominated the latter's politics. During more than half a century in Parliament, he served as head of defense, head of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry and general secretary of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party before becoming prime minister.

He was the first Japanese Prime Minister to visit South Korea. Japan has been a country with bitter memories of the 1910–1945 colonization. This was his first trip abroad as a leader. He privatized Japan's national railways as well as state telephone and tobacco companies. He then retired from Parliament in 2003 at the age of 85.