Toshio Kimura
{{Short description|Japanese politician and minister of foreign affairs (1909–1983)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name = Toshio Kimura
|native_name = {{nobold|木村 俊夫}}
|native_name_lang = ja
|image = Toshio_Kimura.jpg
|caption = Kimura in 1971
|office = Minister for Foreign Affairs
|primeminister = Kakuei Tanaka
|term_start = 16 July 1974
|term_end = 9 December 1974
|predecessor = Masayoshi Ōhira
|successor = Kiichi Miyazawa
|office1 = Director-General of the Economic Planning Agency
|primeminister1 = Eisaku Satō
|term_start1 = 5 July 1971
|term_end1 = 7 July 1972
|predecessor1 = Ichiro Sato
|successor1 = Kiichi Arita
|office2 = Chief Cabinet Secretary
|primeminister2 = Eisaku Satō
|term_start2 = 22 June 1967
|term_end2 = 30 November 1968
|predecessor2 = Kenji Fukunaga
|successor2 = Shigeru Hori
|office3 = Member of the House of Representatives
|constituency3 = Mie 1st
|term_start3 = 19 April 1953
|term_end3 = 28 November 1983
|predecessor3 =
|successor3 =
|constituency4 = Mie 1st
|term_start4 = 23 January 1949
|term_end4 = 28 August 1952
|predecessor4 =
|successor4 =
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1909|1|15|df=y}}
|birth_place = Tōin, Mie, Japan
|death_date = {{Death date and age|1983|12|1|1909|1|15|df=y}}
|party = Liberal Democratic
(1955–1983)
|otherparty = Independent (1949–1950)
Liberal (1950–1955)
|alma_mater = Tokyo Imperial University
}}
{{Nihongo|Toshio Kimura|木村 俊夫|Kimura Toshio|15 January 1909 – 1 December 1983}} was a Japanese politician who served as foreign minister for six months in 1974.
Early life
Kimura was born into a politically active family on 15 January 1909.{{cite web|title=Foreign ministers of Japan|url=http://rulers.org/japgov.html|publisher=Rulers|access-date=10 January 2013}} His father and grandfather were both lawmakers.
Career
Kimura was elected to the House of Representatives for 12 times as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). In addition, he served as chief cabinet secretary in the cabinet led by Prime Minister Eisaku Satō.{{cite news|title=Toshio Kimura Dies; Former Tokyo Official|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/03/obituaries/toshio-kimura-dies-former-tokyo-official.html|access-date=5 January 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=3 December 1983|agency=AP|location=Tokyo}} He was also chairman of the Parliamentarians' League for Japan-Palestine Friendship. He organized Yasser Arafat's visit to Japan in 1981.{{cite news|title=Toshio Kimura|access-date=5 January 2013
|newspaper=Toledo Blade|date=1 December 1983|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19831201&id=J7M0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=KAMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1703,8136512}}
His other posts include director-general of the economic planning agency and deputy chief cabinet secretary. In 1971, Kimura served as acting foreign minister.{{cite book|editor1=Jacob Bercovitch|editor2=Kwei-Bo Huang |editor3=Chung-Chian Teng|title=Conflict management, security and intervention in East Asia: third-party mediation in regional conflict|date=2008|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GRqPlwVz6t8C&pg=PA101|publisher=Routledge
|isbn=978-1-134-14102-9|page=101|location=London; New York|chapter=Third parties in the Beijing-Tokyo negotiations: Informal political actors and mechanisms|author=Quansheng Zhao}} He was appointed foreign minister by Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka in mid-July 1974, replacing Masayoshi Ohira in the post.{{cite news|title=Tanaka reshuffles Japanese cabinet|agency=AP|location=Tokyo|date=17 July 1974|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1873&dat=19740717&id=74seAAAAIBAJ&sjid=g8wEAAAAIBAJ&pg=791,289067|access-date=6 January 2013|newspaper=Daytona Beach Morning}} Kimura was in office for six months in 1974. Kimura visited Africa in late October and early November 1974 which initiated a cooperation between African countries and Japan.{{cite web
|title=Chapter 2. Diplomatic Efforts Made by Japan|url=http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/other/bluebook/1975/1975-2-1.htm
|publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs|access-date=5 January 2013}}{{cite journal|author=Oda Hideo|title=Japan-Africa Relations in the Twenty-first Century|journal=Gaiko Forum|date=Winter 2002|pages=42–46
|url=http://www.gaikoforum.com/5_p42-46_Oda.pdf}} He was the first senior Japanese government official to visit African countries.{{cite news|author=Geoffrey Murray|title='Independent' Japan begins to build better ties with black Africa|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/1981/0330/033067.html|access-date=5 January 2013|work=The CS Monitor|date=30 March 1981}} His Africa visit included Ghana, Nigeria, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), Tanzania, and Egypt.{{cite book|author=Jun Morikawa|title=Japan and Africa: Big Business and Diplomacy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O6Mn-Y3ozJUC&pg=PA83|year=1997|publisher=Hurst
|isbn=978-1-85065-141-3|page=83|location=London}} Then Kimura became head of the LDP's Asian-African Studies Group in 1977.{{cite book|author=Sueo Sudō|title=The Fukuda Doctrine and ASEAN: New Dimensions in Japanese Foreign Policy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k7SY8eXdWcoC&pg=PA124|location=Singapore|isbn=978-981-3016-14-9
|year=1992|publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian|page=124}}
Personal life and death
Kimura was married and had a daughter. He died of a heart attack at a hospital in Tokyo on 1 December 1983 at age 74.
Honours
- Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (3 November 1983)
References
{{Reflist|33em}}
External links
{{Commons-inline}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=Kenji Fukunaga}}
{{s-ttl|title=Chief Cabinet Secretary|years=1967–1968}}
{{s-aft|after=Shigeru Hori}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=Ichiro Sato}}
{{s-ttl|title=Head of the Economic Planning Agency | years=1971–1972}}
{{s-aft|after=Kiichi Arita}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=Masayoshi Ōhira}}
{{s-ttl|title=Minister for Foreign Affairs|years=1974}}
{{s-aft|after=Kiichi Miyazawa}}
{{s-end}}
{{Japanese foreign ministers}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kimura, Toshio}}
Category:Ministers for foreign affairs of Japan
Category:Government ministers of Japan