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Mori Yoshiro was the Prime Minister of Japan from 5 April 2000 to 26
April 2001.
Yoshiro Mori was born on July 14, 1937 in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, as
the son of Shigeki and Kaoru Mori, wealthy rice farmers with a history in
politics, as both his father and grandfather served as the major of Neagari,
Ishikawa prefecture. His mother died when Yoshiro was seven years old.
He studied at the Waseda University in Tokyo, joining the rugby club.
Afterwards he joined the Sankei Shimbun, a very conservative newspaper in
Japan. In 1962 he left the newspaper and became secretary of a diet member,
and in 1969 he was elected in the lower house at age 32. He was reelected 10
consecutive times. In 1980 he was involved in a scandal about receiving
unlisted shares of Recruit Cosmos before they were publicly traded, and
selling them after they were made public for a profit of approximately 1
million dollar. He was education minister in 1983 and 1984, International
trade and industry minister in 1992 and 1993, and construction minister in
1995 and 1996.
His predecessor was Keizo Obuchi, but due to a stroke on April 2nd 2000,
Keizo Obuchi was unable to continue this office. Therefore, the secretary
general of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Yoshiro Mori became the prime
minister. His position in Office was marred with a long list of faux-pas,
unpopular decisions, PR mistakes and verbal gaffes. One of his biggest
public relation disasters was to calmly continue a round of gold after
receiving the news that the US submarine USS Greeneville has accidentally
hit and sunk the Japanese fishing ship Ehime-Maru during an emergency
surface drill on February 9th 2000, resulting in 9 dead students and
teachers. At no time was he really popular, and at the end of his term his
approval rating dropped to single digits. He was commonly described as
having "the heart of a flea and the brain of a shark".
He was replaced by Koizumi Junichiro on April 26, 2001. Yoshiro Mori is
married to his wife Chieko (born: Chieko Maki), a fellow Waseda University
student, and he has a son, Yuuki Mori, and a daughter, Yoko Fujimoto.
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