Eisaku Satō in the context of "Yasuhiro Nakasone"

The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP; Japanese: 自由民主党, romanized: Jiyū-Minshutō), also known as Jimintō (自民党), is a major conservative and nationalist political party in Japan. Since its foundation in 1955, the LDP has been in power almost continuously—a period called the 1955 System—except from 1993 to 1996, and again from 2009 to 2012.

The LDP was formed in 1955 as a merger of two conservative parties, the Liberal Party and the Japan Democratic Party, and was initially led by prime minister Ichirō Hatoyama. The LDP supported Japan's alliance with the United States and fostered close links between Japanese business and government, playing a major role in the country's economic miracle from the 1960s to early 1970s and subsequent stability under prime ministers including Hayato Ikeda, Eisaku Satō, Kakuei Tanaka, Takeo Fukuda, and Yasuhiro Nakasone. Scandals and economic difficulties led to the LDP losing power in 1993 and 1994, and governing under a non-LDP prime minister from 1994 before regaining power in 1996. In 1999, the LDP entered into a coalition with Komeito.

Takeo Fukuda (福田 赳夫, Fukuda Takeo; 14 January 1905 – 5 July 1995) was a Japanese politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1976 to 1978.

Born in Gunma Prefecture and educated at Tokyo Imperial University, Fukuda served as an official in the Ministry of Finance for two decades before entering politics. He was first elected to the Diet in 1952, and served as agriculture, forestry, and fisheries minister in 1959–1960 under Nobusuke Kishi, as head of the party's political affairs section under Hayato Ikeda, and as finance minister (1965–1966, 1968–1971) and foreign minister (1971–1972) under Eisaku Satō, becoming his protégé. Fukuda's political life was marked by a rivalry with Kakuei Tanaka, who succeeded Satō as prime minister in 1972 and under whom Fukuda served as finance minister from 1973 to 1974. As prime minister from 1976, Fukuda formulated the Fukuda Doctrine, which pledged trust and cooperation with Asian countries, and concluded the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and China in 1978. He was succeeded as premier in 1978 by Masayoshi Ōhira.

The Satō–Kishi–Abe family is an extremely prominent political family in Japan. It has produced three prime ministers: Nobusuke Kishi, Eisaku Satō, and Shinzo Abe, who combined have served as Prime Minister of Japan for over 20 years. Kishi led the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) in its first election as a combined party. All politicians from the Satō-Kishi-Abe family continue to be associated with the LDP today

Nobusuke Kishi (岸 信介, Kishi Nobusuke; 13 November 1896 – 7 August 1987) was a Japanese bureaucrat and politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1957 to 1960. He is remembered for his exploitative economic management of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo in China in the 1930s, imprisonment as a suspected war criminal following World War II, and provocation of the massive Anpo protests as prime minister, retrospectively receiving the nickname "Monster of the Shōwa era" (昭和の妖怪; Shōwa no yōkai). Kishi was the founder of the Satō–Kishi–Abe dynasty in Japanese politics, with his younger brother Eisaku Satō and his grandson Shinzo Abe both later serving as prime ministers of Japan.

Born in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Kishi graduated from Tokyo Imperial University in 1920. He rose through the ranks at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and during the 1930s led the industrial development of Manchukuo, where he exploited Chinese slave labor. Kishi served in the wartime cabinet of Hideki Tōjō as minister of commerce and industry from 1941 to 1943 and vice minister of munitions from 1943 to 1944. At the end of the war in 1945, Kishi was imprisoned as a suspected Class A war criminal, but U.S. occupation authorities did not charge, try, or convict him, and released him in 1948 during the Reverse Course. At the end of the occupation in 1952, Kishi was de-purged, enabling his election to the National Diet in 1953. With overt and covert U.S. support, he consolidated Japanese conservatives against perceived threats from the Japan Socialist Party, and in 1955 was instrumental in forming the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Kishi was thus key in establishing the "1955 System" under which the LDP remains Japan's dominant party.

Kiichi Miyazawa (宮澤 喜一, Miyazawa Kiichi; 8 October 1919 – 28 June 2007) was a Japanese politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1991 to 1993.

Born in Tokyo, Miyazawa graduated from Tokyo Imperial University with a law degree, and in 1942 joined the Ministry of Finance. He was first elected to the National Diet in 1953 and held a number of prominent posts, including international trade and industry minister under Eisaku Sato, foreign minister under Takeo Miki, director of the Economic Planning Agency under Takeo Fukuda, chief cabinet secretary under Yasuhiro Nakasone, and finance minister under Noboru Takeshita. Miyazawa became prime minister in 1991, but was forced to resign after the 1993 election after a failure to pass political reforms caused his Liberal Democratic Party to face its first defeat in a national election since its formation in 1955. Miyazawa later returned as finance minister from 1999 to 2001 in the cabinets of Keizō Obuchi and Yoshirō Mori.

Masayoshi Ōhira (大平 正芳, Ōhira Masayoshi; 12 March 1910 – 12 June 1980) was a Japanese politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1978 until his death in 1980.

Born in Kagawa Prefecture, Ōhira worked in the Ministry of Finance from 1936, and served as the private secretary to Hayato Ikeda, finance minister from 1949 to 1952. Ōhira was first elected to the Diet in 1952, and served as foreign minister in Ikeda's cabinet from 1962 to 1964 and as international trade and industry minister from 1968 to 1970 under Eisaku Satō. He took over Ikeda's faction of the Liberal Democratic Party and later served as foreign minister from 1972 to 1974 under Kakuei Tanaka and as finance minister from 1974 to 1976 under Takeo Miki. He succeeded Takeo Fukuda as LDP president and prime minister in 1978. After his government was defeated in a no-confidence vote, Ōhira decided to call the 1980 election rather than resign, but died suddenly of a heart attack. He is the most recent Japanese premier to die in office.

Zenkō Suzuki (鈴木 善幸, Suzuki Zenkō; 11 January 1911 – 19 July 2004) was a Japanese politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1980 to 1982.

Born in Iwate Prefecture, Suzuki graduated from the Tokyo University of Fisheries in 1935 and was elected to the Diet in 1947 as a member of the Japan Socialist Party, then shifted rightward and joined the Liberal Democratic Party. He briefly served as posts and telecommunications minister and cabinet secretary under Hayato Ikeda, as health and welfare minister under Eisaku Satō, and as agriculture, forests, and fisheries minister under Takeo Fukuda. After the sudden death of prime minister Masayoshi Ōhira in 1980, Suzuki assumed leadership of his faction, and he succeeded him as LDP president and prime minister until 1982.

The Okinawa Reversion Agreement (Japanese: 沖縄返還協定, Hepburn: Okinawa henkan kyōtei) is an agreement between the United States and Japan in which the US agreed to relinquish in favor of Japan all rights and interests under Article III of the Treaty of San Francisco, which had been obtained as a result of the Pacific War, and thus return Okinawa Prefecture to Japanese sovereignty. The document was signed simultaneously in Washington, DC, and Tokyo on June 17, 1971, by William P. Rogers on behalf of US President Richard Nixon and Kiichi Aichi on behalf of Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Satō. The document was not ratified in Japan until November 24, 1971, by the National Diet.