Japanese Kingmaker Tanaka Suffers Stroke, Some Paralysis

Former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, the so-called kingmaker of Japanese politics and the principal political supporter of Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, has suffered a stroke that paralyzed the right side of his body and affected his speech.

Dr. Tsunehiko Watanabe of Tokyo Teishin Hospital, where Tanaka was taken secretly Wednesday night, said Thursday that Tanaka’s right side was paralyzed by “a mild cerebral apoplexy.”

Tanaka, 66, is called Japan’s “Shadow Shogun” because of his immense backstage influence on national politics.

Incapacitation of Tanaka, who controls the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s largest faction of 121 members of Parliament, would deprive Nakasone of his main party supporter and invite moves to unseat him as party president and thus as prime minister before his term as party leader ends in November, 1986.

Analysts noted, however, that none of the favorites to succeed Nakasone is as powerful within the party as Tanaka. As a result, rivalry among them would reduce the impact of any attacks on Nakasone.

At the same time, Tanaka’s decline could strengthen Nakasone by eliminating the only one who could mount a significant move to oust him, these analysts said.

Party rules specify that no party president may serve more than two terms, and Nakasone is in his second term. The party presidency, by tradition, is considered a prerequisite for serving as prime minister.

Tanaka was convicted in October, 1983, of accepting a $1.8-million bribe from the Lockheed Corp. to promote sales of its planes in Japan during his 1972-74 term as prime minister. He was sentenced to a four-year jail term but is free on $1.3-million bail pending appeal.