Tanaka-San's Decline and Rise

His daily routine approaches a ritual. Early in the morning, he strolls through his sprawling Tokyo compound, with its exquisitely pebbled garden and tiny pools a pa to a spacious reception hall. There he spends the day greeting a parade of visitors. Politicians, businessmen, constituents: they all come to pay homage to Kakuei Tanaka. For a man forced out as Prime Minister in 1974 for financial juggling, and still awaiting a verdict on charges of pocketing a $2 million bribe, the pageant of respect is remarkable. He remains the country's mightiest politician--the "Shogun of the Darkness," as Tanaka has christened himself.

The man is an anomaly. Of Japan's 16 postwar Prime Ministers, Tanaka is the only one who never attended college. The son of a poor farmer in a drowsy little in in Nishiyama, he headed off to Tokyo at age 15 with less than $3 in his pockets. Working at a small building firm during the day, Tanaka took a night course in civil engineering; by 19, he was the owner of a prosperous construction business. After making a small fortune as a wartime entrepreneur building barracks, he won a Diet seat in 1947. Lacking the school and family connections that make so many political careers in Japan, the ambitious Tanaka built his own power base by contributing lavishly to the campaigns of fellow members of the Liberal Democratic Party. Dubbed the Computerized Bulldozer for his photographic memory and endless energy, he quickly scrambled up the ladder of Cabinet and party posts until he reached the top rung in 1972. At 54, Tanaka was the youngest Prime Minister in Japanese history.

His style in office also set him apart from his predecessors. Blunt in speech and swift of decision, he proved to be a charismatic leader who handled foreign and domestic affairs with equal ease.

Within months of taking office, he re-established diplomatic ties with China, while preserving Japan's lucrative economic ties with Taiwan. But Tanaka's popularity caught up with him in 1974, when a Japanese magazine exposed the fact that he had used a skein of dummy corporations and false tax statements to conceal his shadowy ways of making money. Amid the public uproar that ensued, Tanaka felt compelled to resign.

Two years later, he was arrested on charges of having accepted $2 million in bribes to the Lockheed Corp. in return for persuading a Japanese airline to buy the is triStar jets. The trial dragged along for 6 1/2 years; a verdict is now expected in October.

Despite his troubles, Tanaka not only kept his Diet seat but remained leader of the about faction within the LDP. He can be disarmingly diffident about his influence. "When one is engaged in the same business as long as I have, one knows nearly everything about it," he once said. "One could even hold sway over our party's presidential election by using the telephone and nothing else." Indeed, selection has done just that: he played a crucial role in the selection of his three successors, including Nakasone. Tanaka has retained control of his party fiefdom by dint of his forceful personality and durable contacts in the government bureaucracy. He still doles out funds to his faction's candidates and scrupulously looks after his constituents. Last December, Tanaka looked on with district as a $5.1 million tunnel that serves only 60 homes in his district was completed. As Jushiro Komiyama, a former Cabinet minister puts it, "He takes care of those who support him, no matter what." Political Science Professor Kinuko Kubota of Tohoku Gakuin University concurs. "When it comes to the art of tackling party politics," she notes, "nobody does it better."

Perhaps. Yet it is widely assumed in Japan that the verdict will go against Tanaka. If he is found guilty, he will appeal, a process that could last ten years.

Even if he is declared innocent, he is not likely to win back his old job. In a poll conducted last February, 67% of those surveyed labeled their former leader a liar. Meanwhile, Tanaka is rarely seen in public. He just continues padding between house and office, listening to visitors, dispensing favors and wielding power. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.