Ex-Japan Prime Minister Nakasone Turns 100

May 27, 2018

Tokyo- Former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone turned 100 years old on Sunday.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party heavyweight was elected to the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, for the first time in 1947, just two years after the end of World War II.

Since then, he has been calling for amending Japan's postwar Constitution.

Nakasone refrained from attending a meeting on May 1 of suprapartisan lawmakers hoping to have a new supreme law. But in a message to the meeting, he said, "It is much doubtful about the effectiveness of the Constitution at a time when Japanese people's opinions and values are changing drastically."

Nakasone leads the group.

An LDP member said Nakasone is the "one and only" politician in Japan who can tell what conservatism is.

On Friday, LDP Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai, head of an intraparty faction whose predecessors include the Nakasone group, said he will endeavor to revise the Constitution.

These days, Nakasone has some difficulty walking, but still visits his office in Tokyo about twice a week to sort out documents and meet with guests, people close to him said.

Nakasone became prime minister in 1982 and demonstrated close personal ties with then U.S. President Ronald Reagan the following year. Jiji Press