| Summary/Abstract |
Leaders should be judged based on whether they had foresight and whether they were able to risk their jobs to live out their convictions. Japan suffered from a lack of good leaders before WWII. Since then outstanding leaders carried out their convictions and solved postwar issues. Nakasone Yasuhiro (1918–2019) was the first postwar Prime Minister (1982–1987) who squarely placed Japan as an important member of the industrialized democracies. During his term as prime minister, he improved relations between Japan and the US as well as between Japan and other Asian countries, especially China and the Republic of Korea, thereby raising Japan’s presence around the world. Domestically he boldly implemented reforms in security, privatization of state-owned enterprises, and in solidifying power in the office of prime minister. He breathed his last but his legacy remains.
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