M. Watanabe; Outspoken Japanese Politician

Michio Watanabe, a colorful, blunt-spoken former foreign minister who was often considered a prime contender for Japan’s top government post, died Friday of heart failure in a Tokyo hospital. He was 72.

One of Japan’s few internationally known politicians, Watanabe had made three attempts to become premier and was one of Japan’s most experienced ministers, having held the portfolios of agriculture, trade and finance as well as foreign affairs.

He was forced to resign as foreign minister in 1993 after a serious gallbladder affliction, which was widely believed to have been cancer.

His racial remarks, dismissing Chinese as cave dwellers and alleging that American blacks “polluted” white areas and declared bankruptcy to avoid paying bills, made him infamous abroad. Only last June, he caused riots in South Korea by saying that Korea had welcomed Japan’s “friendly” 1910-1945 colonial occupation.

Watanabe may be remembered above all for his directness. When caught up in the 1980s Recruit shares-for-favors scandal, Watanabe told voters the affair amounted to “business as usual” and that if people wanted clean politics, they should elect priests. He once called voters supporting opposition parties “fish with a lower IQ.”

But beneath the outspoken exterior, Watanabe was an able operator. As foreign minister, he helped persuade parliament to adopt a controversial law to allow Japanese troops to become United Nations peacekeepers, against stiff resistance from the Socialist Party. As a domestic politician, he wielded great behind-the-scenes clout, inheriting the faction of former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone in the Liberal Democratic Party.

Born in Tochigi prefecture, north of Tokyo, Watanabe never sought to hide his earthy provincial accent. He started his professional life as a tax accountant there before entering the prefectural assembly.

His first chance at prime minister came in 1991, a year after he took over the Nakasone faction. But party elders chose the older, more polished Kiichi Miyazaki.

Watanabe had another try for the top in the election for president of the party two years ago, but lost to Yohei Kono, who benefited from anti-corruption credentials.

At that point, most people had written off the political career of the ailing Watanabe. But he made an astonishing comeback, ascribing his recovery to a diet of vegetable soup.

Audaciously, he broke away from his party last year to make a bid for the premiership after the collapse of the first post-Liberal Democratic Party government. But again, Watanabe was beaten by a candidate with a clean image.

Watanabe once declared, alluding to a Japanese proverb: “I am immortal. I may die seven times but will return to life eight times.”

He is survived by his wife, Sumiko, two sons and a daughter.