Masaharu Gotōda

Masaharu Gotōda (後藤田 正晴, Gotōda Masaharu, 9 August 1914 – 19 September 2005) was a Japanese bureaucrat and politician of the Liberal Democratic Party who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Japan in 1993. He also several in several other cabinet positions such as Chief Cabinet Secretary from 1982 to 1983 and 1985 to 1987 under Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone and Minister of Justice from 1992 to 1993 under Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa.

Before becoming a politician Gotōda served as Commissioner General of the National Police Agency from 1969 to 1972 and Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary from 1972 to 1973.

Early life Masaharu Gotōda was born on 9 August 1914 in Higashiyama Village in the Oe District of Tokushima Prefecture. Gotōda studied law and politics at Tokyo Imperial University. After graduating in 1938 he joined the prestigious Home Ministry. The following year Gotōda was drafted into the Imperial Japanese Army. He served as a liaison officer in Taiwan for most of the war. After the surrender of Japan he was taken as a prisoner of war by the Chinese National Revolutionary Army.

Post-war bureaucratic career Gotōda was repatriated to Japan in 1947 and returned to the Home Ministry. He was soon assigned to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. After the abolition of the Home Ministry he was attached to the Headquarters of the National Rural Police, and the National Police Agency once it was founded in 1954.

After four years Gotōda was appointed Commissioner General of the National Police Agency in August 1969. He served as a Commissioner General during a turbulent period for Japanese society, with several incidents of left-wing terrorism such as the Yodogo hijacking, the Asama-Sansō incident and the Lod Airport massacre. Gotōda retired from the National Police Agency in June 1972.

The following month Kakuei Tanaka became Prime Minister and appointed Gotōda to the position of Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary for administrative affairs. The two men had been acquainted since the 1950s.

His grandnephew Masazumi Gotōda was elected to the House of Representatives in 2000.

Masaharu Gotōda died of pneumonia on 19 September 2005 at the age of 91.