Who is Hidenao Nakagawa?

It was announced today that Abe Shinzo had appointed Hidenao Nakagawa to be secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic party. Who is this Nakagawa fellow? Let’s see what today’s press reports said:

Mainichi Shinbun’s “Abe appoints Nakagawa as LDP secretary-general“:

Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) President Shinzo Abe appointed the party’s top policymaker, Hidenao Nakagawa, as its secretary-general on Monday.

Nakagawa, 62, who currently heads the LDP Policy Research Council, belongs to an intraparty faction led by former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, of which both Abe and outgoing Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi had been members.

Not a whole lot of information there…let’s see what the western media says! CNN’s “Abe taps Japan pro-growth veteran“:

Now serving as the LDP’s policy chief, Nakagawa has played an important role in formulating outgoing Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s economic policies, and is one architect of Abe’s stance of “No fiscal reform without growth”.

A close Abe ally, 62-year-old Nakagawa has said spending cuts must come before tax increases in achieving fiscal reform and stresses the need to foster economic growth.

Abe, 52, who had never held a cabinet portfolio until becoming chief cabinet secretary last October, selected party veterans for other key positions as well, including Shoichi Nakagawa as its policy chief, Japanese media reported.

Shoichi Nakagawa, unrelated to Hidenao, has held the agriculture and trade minister portfolios and is known for his tough stance against China and sharing Abe’s views on putting patriotism back into classrooms.

Nakagawa, 53, has called China a “scary” country and in January said it posed a military threat along with North Korea. He also paid a visit to Tokyo’s controversial Yasukuni Shrine on August 15, the anniversary of Japan’s defeat in World War Two.

So I guess he’s good for Japan’s economy, but he supports controversial policies such as patriotism in schools and the Yasukuni Shrine? Of course, the fact that a headline that says “pro-growth veteran” instead of “ultra-conservative” shows that the author of the article seems to be taking an optimistic look at Japan’s future. Let’s see what Japan Today (Crisscross Japan’s new title), is saying about Mr. Nakagawa.

Japan Today’s “Abe hands Nakagawa No. 2 LDP post despite scandals“:

TOKYO — Former Chief Cabinet Secretary Hidenao Nakagawa was appointed Monday as secretary general of the governing Liberal Democratic Party, the No. 2 party post in the leadership of newly-elected LDP President Shinzo Abe, despite scandals still haunting him years after his cabinet expulsion.

Nakagawa, who assumed the post of chief cabinet secretary in July 2000 under then Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, resigned that October after coming under criticism over scandals involving the extramarital affair and having links with a senior member of a right-wing group, an issue also mentioned by the magazine, Focus.

Leave it to Japan Today to go right to the seedy nutmeat of the issue and focus on scandals. Interestingly enough, most of the articles about Nakagawa did not mention his scandal and resignation in 2000. Is it because the Japanese press is too timid, or is it because his extramartial affair and possible ties to right-wing groups don’t matter so much?