Kakuei Tanaka

Kakuei Tanaka, the legendary political shogun who was hailed for his dynamic leadership but despised as the architect of Japan's corrupt machine politics, died of pneumonia Thursday. He was 75. Tanaka's fortunes rose and fell from being a poor farm boy to prime minister in 1972, to a felon snared in the Lockheed bribery scandal four years later. He had all but retired from politics since suffering a stroke in 1985.

Japan's first female astronaut lifted off Friday, but the Science and Technology Agency chief she calls from the cosmos is just as conspicuous. The chief is also a woman--and, it turns out, the most popular member of Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama's new Cabinet. Makiko Tanaka, 50, was elected to the lower house of Parliament just last July. Last week, however, she became director general of the science agency in a stratospheric promotion.

Japan's first female astronaut lifted off Friday, but the Science and Technology Agency chief she calls from the cosmos is just as conspicuous. The chief is also a woman--and, it turns out, the most popular member of Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama's new Cabinet. Makiko Tanaka, 50, was elected to the lower house of Parliament just last July. Last week, however, she became director general of the science agency in a stratospheric promotion.

Kakuei Tanaka, the legendary political shogun who was hailed for his dynamic leadership but despised as the architect of Japan's corrupt machine politics, died of pneumonia Thursday. He was 75. Tanaka's fortunes rose and fell from being a poor farm boy to prime minister in 1972, to a felon snared in the Lockheed bribery scandal four years later. He had all but retired from politics since suffering a stroke in 1985.

Former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, 71, who held his seat in Parliament through the turmoil of being arrested and convicted of accepting a $1.8-million bribe and after suffering a stroke, announced Saturday through his adopted son-in-law that he is retiring from politics. Naoki Tanaka, himself a member of Parliament, told Tanaka's supporters in Niigata prefecture (state) that their mentor will not run in the next lower-house election.

Former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, 69, who for more than a decade reigned as a kingmaker in Japanese politics, lost another battle today. The Tokyo High Court, an appeals tribunal, upheld the October, 1983, verdict of a district court that found him guilty of accepting a $1.8-million bribe from the Lockheed Aircraft Corp. during his 1972-74 term in office and sentenced him to four years in jail and a fine of 500 million yen ($1.

The condition of ex-Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka is more serious than first believed after a stroke last week, his doctors said. They had predicted recovery in three to four weeks, but they now say it could be as long as three months before Tanaka, head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's largest faction, can return to normal activities. They said it is not known whether Tanaka, 66, will suffer any permanent paralysis.

Makoto Miike, 87, former Japanese postal and telecommunications minister and the eldest member of Japan's House of Councilors. Miike had been a member of the upper house of the governing Liberal Democratic Party since 1986. He first was elected to the House of Representatives, the lower house, in 1949 and was postal and telecommunications minister from July to December, 1972, in the government of Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka. In Tokyo on Saturday.

Osamu Inaba, who as justice minister helped bring down Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka in the 1976 Lockheed scandal, died of pneumonia at a Tokyo hospital Saturday, his family said. He was 82. During Inaba's tenure as justice minister, he sought information from the United States about the payoff scandal and played a key role in arresting Tanaka. Tanaka was convicted of receiving about $2 million in bribes from the Lockheed Corp.

Former Finance Minister Noboru Takeshita emerged Wednesday as the front-runner in the race to succeed Japan's Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone later this year, political analysts said. Takeshita, 63, won the support of 118 fellow members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, giving him the upper hand in the fight to control the party's largest faction and become the country's next leader, the analysts said. "Takeshita has become the front-runner," Masayuki Fukuoka of Komazawa University said.

Former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, 71, who held his seat in Parliament through the turmoil of being arrested and convicted of accepting a $1.8-million bribe and after suffering a stroke, announced Saturday through his adopted son-in-law that he is retiring from politics. Naoki Tanaka, himself a member of Parliament, told Tanaka's supporters in Niigata prefecture (state) that their mentor will not run in the next lower-house election.

Former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, 69, who for more than a decade reigned as a kingmaker in Japanese politics, lost another battle today. The Tokyo High Court, an appeals tribunal, upheld the October, 1983, verdict of a district court that found him guilty of accepting a $1.8-million bribe from the Lockheed Aircraft Corp. during his 1972-74 term in office and sentenced him to four years in jail and a fine of 500 million yen ($1.

China's senior leader Deng Xiaoping today laughed about foreign reports of his death and said China is unafraid of Western sanctions in the wake of the June crushing of pro-democracy unrest. Deng, 85, also told Japanese lawmaker Masayoshi Ito that among the politicians he most respected were former President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger and Japan's former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka. All three men led the way in improving their countries' relations with China.