JCI World President Hanlon and Japan’s next prime minister Aso during the 2008 JCI Japan Convention in Kyoto
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Taro Aso, 1978 JCI Japan President and Japan’s former foreign minister, was chosen as president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Monday and elected Japan's next prime minister on Wednesday, September 24, 2008. He will take over the reins from Yasuo Fukuda.
Aso won 351 of 525 valid votes cast by LDP members of parliament and representatives of local party branches. Economics Minister Kaoru Yosano was a distant second with 66 votes, and former defense minister Yuriko Koike placed third with only 46 votes.
A Remarkable Family
Taro Aso was born in 1940, in Iizuka, Fukuoka. Aso's great-great grandfather, Toshimichi Okubo, a samurai, was one of the five powerful nobles who staged the 1868 uprising that overthrew the centuries-old Tokugawa shogunate tradition and began Japan's modernization, called the Meiji Restoration.
Aso's grandfather, Shigeru Yoshida, was prime minister five times between 1946 and 1954, and crafted Japan's foreign and domestic policy for much of the Cold War era. Zenko Suzuki, prime minister 1980-82, was his father-in law. Aso's father, Takakichi Aso, was a successful entrepreneur, and his youngest sister, Nobuko, is married to Imperial Prince Tomohito.
Education and Work
Aso graduated from the Faculty of Politics and Economics at Gakushuin University, and studied at Stanford University and the University of London. He worked for two years for a diamond mining company in Sierra Leone, gaining valuable experience and understanding of developing nations.
Aso joined his father's company in 1966, and served as president of the Aso Mining Company from 1973 to 1979. He was National President of JCI Japan in 1978.
Elected as a member of the House of Representatives in October 1979, Aso was re-elected several times. He joined the Cabinet of Junichiro Koizumi in 2003 as Minister of Internal Affairs, Posts and Communications. On October 31, 2005, he became Minister for Foreign Affairs.
JCI Involvement
Aso's involvement in JCI has been long and exemplary. In his speeches as well as in his profiles on the web, Aso proudly mentions his post as JCI Japan President in 1978.
In spite of his numerous and pressing obligations, Aso has taken the time again and again to contribute to JCI, meet with past and current JCI officers and members, and talk about the organization. In 2007, he took part in the JCI World Congress in Antalya, Turkey, where he mingled with delegates and helped present The Outstanding Young Persons of the World (TOYP) trophies to TOYP honorees.
In January 2008, Aso met with JCI Japan and JCI international officers, including JCI World President Graham Hanlon and JCI Secretary General Edson A. Kodama, at the JCI Nagano Reception during the JCI Japan Convention in Kyoto.
Optimism, Peace, and Toughness
Taro Aso's appeal rests in his "strong character" and his being "straight and blunt," said political analyst Hisahiko Okazaki.
JCI members admire Aso’s optimism. "Asia is now brimming with optimism," he said in one of his speeches. "With such unshakable belief here that tomorrow will be even brighter than today, no one can argue against the claim that 'Asian' is another word for 'optimist.' And dare I add that when I say that 'Asians' equal 'optimists,' I can include the Japanese in that equation."
True to his JCI roots, Aso believes in peace through economic prosperity. “There is an English expression I often cite which goes, 'Peace and happiness through economic prosperity,'" says Aso. "It is this which has been the motto of post-war Japan, which we have pursued so single-mindedly over the last 60 years."
Taro Aso asserts that serious challenges create though leaders. He says that when an issue is so challenging that it is difficult to solve, the person who struggles to somehow resolve the issue, becomes someone for others to emulate. “That is a thought leader," he says.
To ensure Japan’s security and prosperity, Taro Aso will have to solve important issues in a speedy and bold manner. His unbound optimism, his desire for peace and prosperity, and the toughness he has developed through years of struggle will serve him well in the challenging and important journey he is about to embark.
Immensely proud of Taro Aso, a JCI alumnus, we congratulate him and wish him all the best in his new post.
If you would like to send a congratulatory message to Japan's new Prime Minister Taro Aso, please send it through the JCI Japan Secretariat, secjjc@mrh.biglobe.ne.jp
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