Noboru Takeshita

Senior Second Rank Noboru Takeshita
竹下 登
Official portrait, 1987
Prime Minister of Japan
In office 6 November 1987 – 3 June 1989
Monarchs	Hirohito Akihito
Deputy	Kiichi Miyazawa
Preceded by	Yasuhiro Nakasone
Succeeded by	Sōsuke Uno
President of the Liberal Democratic Party
In office 31 October 1987 – 2 June 1989
Secretary-General	Shintaro Abe
Preceded by	Yasuhiro Nakasone
Succeeded by	Sōsuke Uno
Minister of Finance
Acting 9 December 1988 – 24 December 1988
Preceded by	Kiichi Miyazawa
Succeeded by	Tatsuo Murayama
In office 27 November 1982 – 22 July 1986
Prime Minister	Yasuhiro Nakasone
Preceded by	Michio Watanabe
Succeeded by	Kiichi Miyazawa
In office 9 November 1979 – 17 July 1980
Prime Minister	Masayoshi Ōhira
Preceded by	Ippei Kaneko
Succeeded by	Michio Watanabe
Minister of Construction
In office 19 January 1976 – 15 September 1976
Prime Minister	Takeo Miki
Preceded by	Takeo Miki
Succeeded by	Tatsui Chūman
Chief Cabinet Secretary
In office 11 November 1974 – 9 December 1974
Prime Minister	Kakuei Tanaka
Preceded by	Susumu Nikaidō
Succeeded by	Ichitarō Ide
In office 5 July 1971 – 7 July 1972
Prime Minister	Eisaku Satō
Preceded by	Shigeru Hori
Succeeded by	Susumu Nikaidō
Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary (Political affairs)
In office 9 November 1964 – 7 August 1966
Prime Minister	Eisaku Satō
Preceded by	Kunikichi Saitō
Succeeded by	Toshio Kimura
Member of the House of Representatives
In office 22 May 1958 – 2 June 2000
Preceded by	Multi-member district
Succeeded by	Wataru Takeshita
Constituency	Shimane at-large (1958–1996) Shimane 2nd (1996–2000)
Member of the Shimane Prefectural Assembly
In office 1951–1958
Personal details
Born	(1924-02-26)26 February 1924 Kakeyama, Shimane, Empire of Japan
Died	19 June 2000(2000-06-19) (aged 76) Minato, Tokyo, Japan
Political party	Liberal Democratic
Spouses	Masae Takeuchi ​ ​ (m. 1944; died 1945)​ Naoko Endō ​ (m. 1946)​
Relatives	Wataru Takeshita (brother) Eiki Eiki (granddaughter) Daigo (grandson)
Alma mater	Waseda University
Signature
Noboru Takeshita's voice Takeshita on Japan–United States relations Recorded 13 January 1988

Noboru Takeshita (竹下 登, Takeshita Noboru, 26 February 1924 – 19 June 2000) was a Japanese politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1987 to 1989.

Born in Shimane Prefecture, Takeshita attended Waseda University and was drafted into the army during the Pacific War. He was first elected to the National Diet in 1958, and served as chief cabinet secretary in 1971–1972 and in 1974, and as finance minister from 1979–1980, 1982–1986, and in 1988, during which he signed the Plaza Accord in 1985. In 1987, Takeshita became head of the Liberal Democratic Party and succeeded Yasuhiro Nakasone as prime minister. He inherited the powerful LDP faction of Kakuei Tanaka, and was dubbed the "last shadow shogun" for his behind-the-scenes influence in politics.^[1] Takeshita was forced to resign in 1989 after being implicated in the Recruit scandal, but continued to lead the largest LDP faction until his death in 2000. He was the last prime minister to serve during the rule of Emperor Shōwa.^[2]