Yukihiko Ikeda

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Yukihiko Ikeda

| native_name = {{No bold|池田行彦}}

| native_name_lang = ja

| image = Yukihiko Ikeda (2).png

| caption = Official portrait, 1996

| office = Minister for Foreign Affairs

| primeminister = Ryutaro Hashimoto

| term_start = 11 January 1996

| term_end = 11 September 1997

| predecessor = Yōhei Kōno

| successor = Keizō Obuchi

| office1 = Director-General of the Japan Defense Agency

| primeminister1 = Toshiki Kaifu

| term_start1 = 29 December 1990

| term_end1 = 5 November 1991

| predecessor1 = Yozo Ishikawa

| successor1 = Sohei Miyashita

| office2 = Director-General of the Management and Coordination Agency

| primeminister2 = Sōsuke Uno

| term_start2 = 3 June 1989

| term_end2 = 10 August 1989

| predecessor2 = Saburō Kanemaru

| successor2 = Kiyoshi Mizuno

| office3 = Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary
(Political affairs)

| primeminister3 = Zenkō Suzuki

| term_start3 = 30 November 1981

| term_end3 = 27 November 1982

| predecessor3 = Riki Kawara

| successor3 = Takao Fujinami

| office4 = Member of the House of Representatives

| constituency4 = Hiroshima 2nd (1976–1996)
Hiroshima 5th (1996–2004)

| term_start4 = 10 December 1976

| term_end4 = 28 January 2004

| predecessor4 = Multi-member district

| successor4 = Minoru Terada

| birth_date = {{birth date|1937|5|13|df=y}}

| birth_place = Kobe, Hyōgo, Japan

| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|1|28|1937|5|13|df=y}}

| death_place = Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan

| relatives = Hayato Ikeda (father-in-law)

| party = Liberal Democratic

| alma_mater = University of Tokyo

}}

{{Nihongo|Yukihiko Ikeda|池田行彦|Ikeda Yukihiko|extra= 13 May 1937 – 28 January 2004}} was a Japanese bureaucrat and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) politician who served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1996 to 1997.{{cite web|title=Former Foreign Minister Yukihiko Ikeda|url=http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/fm/ikeda/index.html|publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan|access-date=27 December 2012}} Ikeda was known to be "Mr. No" in the political life.

Early life and education

Ikeda was born in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, on 13 May 1937.{{cite book|title=The International Who's Who 2004|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sR4Ch1dMe8IC&pg=PA782|year=2003|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-1-85743-217-6|page=782}} Following the death of his father in 1944, he moved to Nakajima Honmachi, Hiroshima where his father's family lived. Ikeda studied law at the University of Tokyo and graduated in March 1961.

Career

File:Ryūtarō Hashimoto Cabinet 19960111.jpg (at the Prime Minister's Official Residence on 11 January 1996)]]

Ikeda joined the Ministry of Finance in 1961{{cite book|author1=Goro Gotemba

|author2=Yoshiyuki Iwamoto|title=Japan on the Upswing: Why the Bubble Burst and Japan's Economic Renewal (Hc)

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eGA9qByeQH0C&pg=PA39|date=1 March 2006|publisher=Algora Publishing|isbn=978-0-87586-462-4|pages=39}} and worked as bureaucrat there. Then he became a member of the House of Representatives in 1976 following his membership to the LDP.{{cite web|title=Minister for Foreign Affairs Yukihiko Ikeda|work=Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan

|url=http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/economy/summit/1996/participant/ikeda.html|access-date=27 December 2012}} He won the largest number of votes (55,027) in Hiroshima Prefecture's 2nd electoral district in the 1976 general election.{{cite journal|author=Karl Dixon|title=The 1976 General Election in Japan|journal=Pacific Affairs|date=Summer 1977|volume=50|issue=2|pages=208–230|jstor=2756299

|doi=10.2307/2756299}} He served as a lawmaker ten times until his retirement. He held key positions in the LDP and was the director general of the Defense Agency. His other posts included chairman of the LDP's decision-making general council and head of the policy research council. He was appointed defense minister on 29 December 1990, replacing Yozo Ishikawa in the post.{{cite web|title=Defense ministers of Japan|url=https://rulers.org/japgov.html|work=Rulers|access-date=9 January 2013}} He served in the post until 5 November 1991 and was succeeded by Sohei Miyashita.

Ikeda's second tenure as foreign minister was from 11 January 1996 to 11 September 1997 in the coalition government headed by Ryutaro Hashimoto.{{cite news|title=Deaths Elsewhere

|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2202&dat=20040129&id=tD4mAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6f4FAAAAIBAJ&pg=3704,2932284

|access-date=27 December 2012|newspaper=Gettysburg Times|date=29 January 2004}}{{cite web|title=Foreign Ministers of Japan|url=https://rulers.org/japgov.html|work=Rulers|access-date=5 January 2013}}{{cite web|title=January 1996|url=https://rulers.org/1996-01.html|work=Rulers|access-date=5 January 2013}} Ikeda replaced Yōhei Kōno as foreign minister. Upon the construction of a wharf facility in Takeshima/Dokdo by the South Korean government at the beginning of 1996, Ikeda protested over the construction and demanded that the South Korean government should stop it. His remarks led to angry public demonstrations in Seoul.{{cite web|author=Kentaro Nakajima|title=Is Japanese maritime strategy changing? An analysis of the Takeshima/Dokdo issue|url=http://dev.wcfia.harvard.edu/us-japan/research/pdf/07-08.Nakajima.pdf|publisher=Harvard University|access-date=9 January 2013|format=Occasional Paper|year=2007}} He led Japan's attempts to solve the hostage crisis in Peru in the 1990s. Ikeda was replaced by Keizō Obuchi as foreign minister on 11 September 1997.

Later Ikeda became the policy chief or top policy planner of the LDP in 1998.{{cite news

|title=Ikeda's prudence brings LDP General Council head post|access-date=6 January 2013|newspaper=Kyodo News|date=30 September 1999|url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Ikeda's+prudence+brings+LDP+General+Council+head+post.-a056195415

|location=Tokyo}}{{cite news|title=Leaving it to the old man|url=http://www.economist.com/node/169953

|access-date=27 December 2012|newspaper=The Economist|date=30 July 1998|location=Tokyo}} He was part of Koichi Kato's faction in the LDP.

Personal life and death

Ikeda was son-in-law of former Japanese prime minister Hayato Ikeda. He married Noriko Ikeda in May 1969, and took his wife's family name.{{cite news|title=Former Foreign Minister Ikeda dies at 66|url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/LEAD%3A+Former+Foreign+Minister+Ikeda+dies+at+66.-a0112902942|access-date=9 January 2013|newspaper=Kyodo News|date=28 January 2004}}

Ikeda died of rectum cancer in Tokyo on 28 January 2004 at age 66.{{cite news|title=Japan's Ex-Foreign Min. Yukihiko Ikeda Dies|url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-20147485_ITM|access-date=6 January 2013|newspaper=Asia Africa Intelligence Wire|date=28 January 2004|agency=Jiji}}