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TOKYO (AP) – Former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, a giant of his post-World War II policy, has died. He was 101 years old.
His son Hirofumi Nakasone's office confirmed that Nakasone had died on Friday in a hospital in Tokyo where he was recently treated.
As prime minister from 1982 to 1987, he was a loyal ally of America known for his cordial relations with President Ronald Reagan.
Nakasone raised defense spending, attempted to revise Japan's US-drafted pacifist constitution, and was remembered for his candid appeals to the patriotism that received criticism.
Nakasone, a naval officer from the Second World War, had witnessed the depth of Japan's defeat and devastation. Four decades later, he presided over Japan at the height of his economic success.
In his later years he became one of the leading senior statesmen of Japan. He supported the long-term goal of his ruling party to revise the constitution and expressed his views on national and international affairs.
