Yomiuri’s Tsuneo Watanabe Mourned Abroad as Perceptive Leader, ‘Patriot’

By Yuko Mukai and Shinji Abe / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondents

2:00 JST, December 21, 2024

WASHINGTON — The passing of Tsuneo Watanabe, who was representative director and editor-in-chief of The Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings, is being mourned overseas.

Columbia University Prof. Emeritus Gerald Curtis, who is known for his research into Japanese politics, told The Yomiuri Shimbun on Thursday that Watanabe was a leader who could see the big picture.

Curtis developed a close friendship with Watanabe through a study group on Japanese politics in the 1960s and 1970s and sometimes saw former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, who was a close acquaintance of Watanabe, in the group.

Watanabe could “be in the middle of things, but … stand back and then analyze the situation objectively and see what the options are, and then decide what’s the best thing to do,” said Curtis. “So he was a very effective and very valued political advisor to a lot of politicians.”

Watanabe’s book “Habatsu to Tatoka Jidai” (Factions and the era of multiple parties), published in 1967, was the first book on Japanese politics that Curtis read in Japanese, and he had just bought a new copy, with a reprint having been issued this year.

“I always felt that was very, very fortunate to get to know him,” Curtis said.

Former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage called Watanabe “a giant” in a comment sent to The Yomiuri Shimbun on Thursday.

“Japan has lost a patriot in the passing of Tsuneo Watanabe,” he wrote.

Armitage said he had dined with Watanabe on two occasions.

“Mr. Watanabe was fearless in presenting his opinions, which were always rooted in his love of country,” Armitage added. “As firmly as he stood his ground on many difficult issues, he was equally respectful of different opinions — a trait I greatly admired.”