KATHMANDU, July 2 - Former Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, who poured massive funds into Nepal on his personal initiative to improve pediatric services here and to provide scholarships to needy students, passed away due to multiple organ failure at International Medical Center in Tokyo Saturday afternoon. He was 68 and had undergone abdominal surgery in early June.
Hashimoto was scheduled to visit Nepal in September in connection with the ongoing Golden Jubilee Celebration of Nepal-Japan Diplomatic Ties. He was heading the celebration committee in Japan.
Hashimoto started pouring in funds to Nepal ever since his first visit to the country in 1984 when he was a Japanese Diet member, and continued to do so when he later became Finance Minister and then Prime Minister of Japan in 1996.
It all began with doctors at Kanti Children’s Hospital meeting him in 1984 to seek Japanese assistance for the hospital.
"He was staying at Hotel Yak & Yeti. Since so much was being done by Japan for the Teaching Hospital, we met him and asked him if anything could be done for Kanti. He visited the hospital and almost broke down in tears seeing the pitiful state it was in," said pediatrician Dr Manindra Raj Baral, who was then the hospital’s director and is now its chairman.
In the years that followed, Hashimoto channeled more than Rs 1.3 billion to upgrade the hospital’s infrastructure. During his dozens of visits to the country that followed, including official and private visits, he made it a point to visit the hospital and make private donations.
"Every time he came, he brought along something. He even sent the hospital the gifts received by his children during their marriage," said Baral. Once, Hashimoto could not make it to the hospital during an official visit to Nepal. After returning to his country, he sent air tickets for two doctors at the hospital and called them to his office in Tokyo. "It was just to inquire how the hospital was doing," Baral added.
By 1994, Kanti had a massive facelift and acquired one of the best medical facilities in the region.
Hashimoto last came to Nepal in January 2002 on a private visit and chipped in with $2,000 from his own pocket. The hospital has a Fund in his name with some six million rupees to finance treatment of needy patients.
An avid trekker, Hashimoto went on treks to some mountain ranges in Nepal as well, said Agam Singh Thapa, author of the book "True Japanese Friends of Nepal" that was published in 2003. "It was also due to Hashimoto’s initiative that a sisterly relationship was forged between Kathmandu Metropolitan City and Matsumoto city in Japan," Thapa said. This relation saw the building of the multi-purpose Martial Art Center in Nayabazaar. Hashimoto was himself a seasoned martial arts expert.
Japan’s Hashimoto Foundation has also provided scholarships to several dozen Nepali students so far.
After serving for over two years as Japan’s prime minister from 1996, Hashimoto stepped down following humiliating defeat for his Liberal Democratic Party in July 1998 elections to the Japanese Upper House. Hashimoto then lost to reformer Junichiro Koizumi in the 2001 elections, and abandoned prime ministerial elections in 2005. He retired from politics last year due to failing health. He was admitted to Tokyo Hospital on June 4 and was in a critical condition ever since.
(Source: http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=78389)
