Kenzaburo Hara (原健三郎, ''Hara Kenzaburō'', 6 February 1907 – 7 November 2004) was a Japanese politician who served as Speaker of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

from 1986 to 1989. He was a member of the House for 54 years from 1946 until he retired in 2000, and died of heart failure in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

at the age of 97.

Biography

Hara was born in Hokudan, on an island in the Awaji island group, in Hyogo Prefecture in 1907. After graduating from the political and economic department of

Waseda University Waseda University (Japanese: ), abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the Tōkyō Professional School by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the fifth Prime Minister of Japan, prime ministe ...

and the graduate course of the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

, he joined

Kodansha is a Japanese privately held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha publishes manga magazines which include ''Nakayoshi'', ''Morning (magazine), Morning'', ''Afternoon (magazine), Afternoon'', ''Evening (magazine), Eveni ...

Ltd., a major publishing house. He served as managing editor of the " Gendai" magazine before becoming a legislator. He is also known as either the original author or scenario writer of five of the nine movies in the popular "Wataridori" ("Migratory Bird") series produced by

Nikkatsu is a Japanese film studio located in Bunkyō. The name ''Nikkatsu'' amalgamates the words Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Motion Pictures". Shareholders are Nippon Television Holdings (35%) and SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation (28.4%). ...

Corp. Hara was first elected to the

Diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

's first post-war

Lower House A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

election held in 1946 with the backing of the now defunct Japan Progressive Party. He later joined the ruling

Liberal Democratic Party Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

(LDP). He had served 20 terms, totaling 54 years, as a Lower House member until he retired from politics at the age of 93 in June 2000 shortly before a general election. Hara was the second longest serving legislator in the post-war period next only to former prime minister

Yasuhiro Nakasone was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan, prime minister of Japan from 1982 to 1987. His political term was best known for pushing through the privatization of state-owned companies and pursuing a hawkish and pro-U.S. fo ...

. After serving as

labor minister Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

and director general of the National Land Agency and the Hokkaido Development Agency, he served as Lower House speaker from July 1986 to June 1989. Known to his constituents by the nickname "Haraken", Hara was one of the most influential politicians in Japan during the 20th century. He served as a legislator for over half the century and became the Speaker of the Lower House. He was first elected in 1946 as General

Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American general who served as a top commander during World War II and the Korean War, achieving the rank of General of the Army (United States), General of the Army. He served with dis ...

arrived to oversee the occupation and reconstruction of Japan, following its surrender at the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. As one of the few legislators to speak proficient English, Hara was invited into the deliberations of MacArthur's inner circle. Hara made controversial statements as measured by western standards. He was criticized for saying, "Those who'll go to nursing care homes for the aged fter they grow oldare the worst," in a speech he delivered in a Coming-of-the-Age Day ceremony in Sumoto, Awaji Island, in January 1972. He had publicly pledged to voters in his home constituency that the

Akashi Strait Bridge The is a suspension bridge that links the city of Kobe on the Japanese island of Honshu and on Awaji Island. It is part of the Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway, and crosses the busy and turbulent Akashi Strait (''Akashi Kaikyō'' in Japanese). ...

between

Kobe Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's List of Japanese cities by population, seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Port of Toky ...

and Awaji Island would be built. As a sign of the influence he wielded, the bridge was opened to traffic in April 1998.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hara, Kenzaburo Government ministers of Japan People from Awaji, Hyōgo Speakers of the House of Representatives (Japan) Waseda University alumni University of Oregon alumni 1907 births 2004 deaths Members of the House of Representatives (Empire of Japan) Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) politicians Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers