5 prime ministers step down in the 4th Olympics

Original title: The 5 prime ministers of the 4th Olympics step down, and Japan’s Olympic curse has come true again…

(Observer Network News) Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga suddenly announced today that he would give up his participation as the president of the Democratic Party. This means that Yoshihide Suga will voluntarily step down as prime minister after he expires at the end of September. This rapid retreat made Suga Yoshihide another “short-lived prime minister” in Japanese history.

The legend of “the five rings rise and the prime minister step down” has been circulating in Japan. Every time an Olympic Games is held, he must step down within a year, and Yoshihide Suga has not escaped the curse. Up to now, Japan has hosted 4 Olympic Games and 5 prime ministers have stepped down. Many Japanese netizens are amazed by the degree of efficaciousness.

In the 1960s, Japan’s economy developed rapidly. At the time, Prime Minister Ikeda Yuto (1960-1964) promulgated a plan to double the national income, and successfully doubled in 1967. During Ikeda’s tenure, Japan hosted the first Olympic Games, but he announced his resignation the day after the Olympics closed and died of illness the following year.

On September 9, 1964, Ikeda was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer and was admitted to the National Cancer Research Center of Japan. When the Olympics opened on October 10 of the same year, he had to attend the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics. On October 24, Ikeda failed to attend the closing ceremony, but watched a TV broadcast while in hospital. The day after the closing ceremony, Ikeda announced his resignation and passed away on August 13, 1965.

After hosting the Summer Olympics, Japan hosted the Winter Olympics in 1972.

After Ikeda Yuto resigned due to illness, he appointed Sato Eisaku (1964-1972) as his successor. Sato Eisaku is the grand uncle of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the brother of Shinsuke Abe.

Sato Eisaku is the second longest-serving prime minister of Japan after the war. During the Sato Eisaku era, Japan was in a golden age of rapid growth, maintaining an average economic growth rate of over 10%. Sato Eisaku pursued a pro-US and anti-China policy. During his tenure as prime minister, he signed the “Japan-South Korea Basic Treaty” and extended the “Japan-US Security Treaty” by himself. In 1972, Sato took back Okinawa from the United States and included it in the Japanese territory. Sato also won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1974 for proposing the three principles of non-nuclear weapons. He is also the only Japanese prime minister to have won this award so far.

On February 3, 1972, the Hokkaido Sapporo Winter Olympics were held. Because Japan was generally dissatisfied with his long reign, in June, Sato Eisaku suddenly announced his resignation, thus ending the 7 years and 8 months of the Sato regime. He died of a sudden cerebral hemorrhage on June 3, 1975.

In February 1998, Japan hosted the Nagano Winter Olympics.

At that time, Japan was in the period of Ryutaro Hashimoto’s (1996-1998) regime. As one of the representatives of Japanese politics in the 1990s, during his tenure, Hashimoto implemented administrative reforms internally and redefined the “Japan-US Alliance” externally, which had a huge impact on Japan’s internal affairs and diplomacy in the new century.

However, because the consumption tax was raised from 3% to 5%, Hashimoto’s policy was criticized as “causing economic recession.” After the Olympics, the support rate did not rise but fell. Shortly after the Olympics, in July of the same year, the Liberal Democratic Party failed in the Senate election. As prime minister and president of the Liberal Democratic Party, Ryutaro Hashimoto resigned.

On September 3, Yoshihide Suga announced that he would not be elected as the president of the Democratic Party and will step down after the expiration of the president at the end of September. Coupled with the sudden announcement of his resignation due to personal health problems, Shinzo Abe has set a record for the Olympics in Japan’s history. A new record for the two prime ministers to step down at the Olympics.

Yoshihide Suga’s new crown policy has been criticized. Kyodo News analyzed that Yoshihide Suga’s response to the new crown epidemic has attracted constant criticism. Before the next House of Representatives election, the cohesion of the Japanese government has declined, and Yoshihide Suga may intend to take responsibility for this.

The 5 prime ministers stepped down during the 4th Olympics, and the Olympics have become a hurdle that the Japanese prime minister can’t get around. However, some Japanese netizens said: “It’s not so much a curse as it is because of the high attention of the Olympic Games, which is directly related to the evaluation of the election, so it is easier to step down. This is more appropriate.”

Editor in charge: Zhu Xuesen SN240