Ichirou Ozawa
Ichirou Ozawa (小沢一郎) was a powerful politician in Japan.
Contents
History
Ozawa was elected to the diet in 1969 for the LDP.
Ozawa directed the party's strategy for the 1983 general elections. He rapidly rose through the ranks of the LDP through his political maneuvering.
In 1993, he and Tsutomu Hata led a breakaway group to found the Japan Renewal Party. They then joined the grand coalition government under Morihiro Hosokawa, though Ozawa was considered the true political force. The coalition failed when the Japan Socialist Party left, which is sometimes attributed to Ozawa's influence that lead the government towards conservative and traditional policies.
Ozawa then joined the New Frontier Party, which he effectively took over through a controversial leadership contest. Immediately the party began to fragment and, by 1998, it was reduced to the point that Ozawa simply dissolved it and founded the new Liberal Party.
In 2003, the Liberal Party merged with the Democratic Party of Japan and Ozawa became party leader. He was forced to resign by a scandal that he was eventually cleared of, but he was not able to return to party leadership until April 2006.
Ozawa led the party into victories in the 2007 House of Councillors elections and 2009 general elections, though Yukio Hatoyama (who had succeeded him as party leader just 4 months prior to the election) was elected prime minister over him. A component of Ozawa's electoral strategy was running women in districts where the DPJ did not have an otherwise strong candidate. This boosted the social image of the party at large, and netted some surprise victories. This cohort of female Diet member's became known as Ozawa's Girls, in the same tradition as the Madonna Boom and the Koizumi Children.
In 2012, Ozawa led a breakaway group to found the People's Life First Party, which then merged into the Tomorrow Party of Japan. He then led a breakaway group to found the People's Life Party, which then was briefly rebranded as People's Life Party & Taro Yamamoto and Friends. Ahead of the 2017 general elections, it was again rebranded as the Liberal Party. In April 2019, the Liberal Party merged into the Democratic Party for the People, and has now been reorganized into the Constitutional Democratic Party, in which Ozawa continues to serve.