ATOMS FORPEACE PRIZE
2008
Yasuhiro Nakasone (Japan)

Yasuhiro Nakasone, born May 27, 1918) is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from November 27, 1982 to November 6, 1987. A contemporary of Ronald Reagan, Helmut Kohl, François Mitterrand, Margaret Thatcher, and Mikhail Gorbachev, he is best known for pushing through the privatization of state-owned companies, and for helping to revitalize Japanese nationalism during and after his term as prime minister. He was born in Takasaki, Gunma, and attended Tokyo Imperial University. During World War II, he was a commissioned officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy. In 1946, he entered the Diet of Japan as a member of the House of Representatives. He rose through the LDP’s ranks, becoming Minister of Science in 1959 under the government of Nobusuke Kishi, then Minister of Transport in 1967, head of the Agency of Defence in 1970, Minister of International Trade and Industry in 1972 and Minister of Administration in 1981. In 1982, Nakasone became Prime Minister. Along with Minister of Foreign Affairs Shintaro Abe, Nakasone improved Japan’s relations with the USSR and the People’s Republic of China. Nakasone was best known for his close relationship with US President Ronald Reagan, popularly called the ‘Ron-Yasu’ friendship. In domestic policy, Nakasone’s most notable policy was his privatization initiative, which led to the breakup of Japan National Railways into the modern Japan Railways Group. Since he was elected as a Diet member, he kept a strong belief that nuclear energy must be a driving force to revitalize Japan impoverished by the World War II. Also he thought that this could be a model of peaceful use of nuclear energy for any emerging country in the world. On this belief, against various opposing powers, he and his colleagues moved forward with three principal plans: 1) drafting a solid national policy, 2) enacting laws and drawing up a budget, and 3) selecting academia carefully. In 1954, he and his colleagues had successfully pass the first budget for the research and development of nuclear energy. It was 235 million yens. At the same time, the opposition party showed a fear that the nuclear energy project in Japan would progress into nuclear bomb development. In reply to the fear, he made a definite statement that the weapon use of nuclear technology must be strictly prohibited at a special committee under Diet on 13 December 1955. In the same year, he and his colleagues introduced and passed eight bills for nuclear development including Atomic Energy Basic Law on 19 December. The most important idea of the Law is “independent, democratic, transparent, and peaceful use.” Thus he laid the groundwork for the peaceful use of nuclear energy to be consistent with the abolition of nuclear weapons. It would lead to “the three nonnuclear principles of Japan” as national policy.  Japanese people decided not to go for nuclear weapon, even though they had potential capability. From the mythological era to these days, he has been rigorously supported and promoted the nuclear energy development occasionally as the Minister of Science and Technology Agency and the Prime Minister. It should be also noted hat he has been consistently supported fast reactor, mixed-oxide fuel use in thermal reactors and nuclear fusion. His strong message is that the way where Japan has proceeded for peaceful use of nuclear energy must be a model for every country in the world including states with nuclear weapons.