1917- . Japanese conservative politician,
leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)
and prime minister 1982-87. He stepped up
military spending and increased Japanese
participation in international affairs, with
closer ties to the USA. He was forced to
resign his party post May 1989 as a result of
having profited from insider trading in the
Recruit scandal. Nakasone was educated at
Tokyo University. He held ministerial posts
from 1967 and established his own faction
within the conservative LDP. In 1982 he was
elected president of the LDP and prime
minister. He encouraged a less paternalist
approach to economic management. Although
embarrassed by the conviction of one of his
supporters in the 1983 Lockheed corruption
scandal, he was re-elected 1986 by a
landslide.