Yasuhiro Nakasone, the 101-year-old former prime minister who strengthened Japan¡¯s military alliance with the United States and privatized the Japanese National Railways (JNR) in the 1980s, died Friday, the Liberal Democratic Party said.
Nakasone was one of a handful of Japanese politicians dubbed ²â¨°ì²¹¾± (monster) due to their lengthy political careers and powerful influence. He served as prime minister from 1982 to 1987, when Japan was emerging as a new economic power, leading to trade frictions with the U.S.
A former officer of the Imperial Japanese Navy and native of Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, he challenged a number of political postwar taboos, based on his conservative political creeds.
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