Kōichi Nishida
Kōichi Nishida | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure of Gylias | |
| In office 2 January 1958 – 5 March 1976 | |
| Prime Minister | Darnan Cyras |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 5 May 1918 Aja, Alscia |
| Died | 15 December 1993 (aged 75) Mişeyáke, Mişeyáke, Gylias |
| Political party | National Unity Party |
| Occupation | Construction worker |
Kōichi Nishida (Miranian: 晃一 西田; Gylic transcription: Kōici Nişida; 5 May 1918 – 15 December 1993) was a Gylian politician. He was Gylias' transport minister in the Darnan Cyras government. He was instrumental in the establishment of Gylian transport policy and helped create Gylias' extensive public transport infrastructure.
Early life
Kōichi Nishida was born on 5 May 1918 in Aja, a village in northern Alscia. His father had been made bankrupt by a failed business venture before his birth, and thus he grew up in poverty.
He left school aged 15 and worked construction jobs, attending night school part-time.
While running errands for a construction firm in 1937, he met Arlette Gaubert in an elevator. Arlette was impressed by the young man's energy and ambition, and hired him as a drafter in one of Gaulette's offices.
Kōichi lost his job when Gaulette was dissolved after Alscia joined the Free Territories. He briefly joined the People's Army, where he served as a clerk, but was discharged in 1941 after contracting pneumonia.
He settled in Senik, and worked at a civil engineering firm. During the last phase of the Liberation War, he became politically active and joined the National Unity Party.
Party leader Donatella Rossetti brought Kōichi to Darnan Cyras' attention, and Darnan invited him to join the post-war Executive Committee, with responsibility for the transport portfolio. He accepted the offer.
Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure
Kōichi took office with the rest of the Executive Committee on 2 January 1958. His post was retroactively renamed "Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure" when the Constitution was adopted in 1961. He was elected to the Popular Assembly in 1958 on the National Unity Party list, and to the Chamber of Deputies from an Alţira constituency in 1962.
He benefited from a close collaboration with public works minister Eðe Saima, who launched a plethora of nationwide public works projects that greatly stimulated the economy. The two shared a dislike of cars and a belief in the primacy of public transport, which took on a character of "public luxury" in accordance with the ideal of the Golden Revolution.
Kōichi had a central role in shaping Gylian transportation policy, with its trademark emphasis on comfort and punctuality, and maintenance of a high modal share for public transport and non-motorised transport. He adopted policies that privileged shared transport, which in combination with Neelie op het Mensink's rationing policies led to widespread networks of carsharing and carpooling. While the first bicycle-sharing system was pioneered at the municipal level in 1965, he seized on it and championed its spread throughout Gylias.
The achievement he was proudest of, and most identified with, was building up GNRTS into a national institution with a prestigious reputation. Following Kirisaki and Akashi's lead, he inaugurated Gylias' first high-speed rail line in 1968.
He and Eðe published the Grand Design on 29 February 1968. It was an ambitious infrastructure plan that envisioned the connection of all cities via high-speed rail and massive expansion of metro systems in cities, a revolutionary view when only one high-speed rail line had been completed. The Grand Design would be realised under subsequent governments, particularly the Mathilde Vieira government.
Another success story of transportation was Gyliair, but in this instance Kōichi had a less central role. He worked closely with Estelle Launay, the Director of the Management Board, and was a staunch supporter of the airline, covering its deficits from the federal budget with no questions asked.
Public image
Kōichi gained a high profile as transportation minister. He would proudly announce new projects, give interviews regarding their goals, and attend ceremonies for their beginning and completion, particularly for driving the last spike on new railways. Due to his habit of appearing at these ceremonies with a trowel in hand, he was nicknamed "the man with the trowel", and "Gylias' chief foreman".
He was so strongly identified with infrastructure and the construction industry that education minister Rin Tōsaka humorously referred to him as the ambassador of the "construction state" (土建国家 Doken Kokka). As a Donatellist liberal, he stood out to some extent within the cabinet for his staunch statism, which brought lighthearted teasing from his anarchist colleagues.
While respected by the public, opinion polls showed he was one of the less popular cabinet ministers. He lacked the exuberant public image of colleagues like Eðe, Rin, Julie Legrand and Birgit Eckstein, and was overshadowed within his party by the Rossetti family. He was a private person and had workaholic tendencies.
His stiff public manner and occasionally imprudent approach to policy caused him to be seen as ambitious and shadowy. He was frequently caricatured in The Prism as obsessed with becoming Prime Minister someday.
He was extremely close to his daughter Makiko Nishida, who became involved in politics from an early age, and successfully advocated her appointment as minister without portfolio with responsibility for youth issues in 1969, despite critics charging nepotism. Makiko was a constant companion to her father during his tenure as minister, and would reflect in Nation Building:
"My father could be very inscrutable at times, lost in his work at others. I think this caused people to see him as cold, and that made them suspicious of his ambition. I was with him all the time, since that was the easiest way to spend time together, but now I realise in a way I helped humanise him — this enigmatic minister with his vivacious daughter…"
Later life and death
Kōichi remained a deputy after the Aén Ďanez government took office, winning reelection in 1976 and 1980. He opposed the Aén Ďanez government, and was aggrieved by the way the Progressive Alliance had broken its alliance with the Liberal Union during the wretched decade. Rumours circulated that he was considering switching to another LU party to play a more prominent role in opposition.
After winning a new term in 1985, he suffered a stroke on 27 February 1985 and was hospitalised. In accordance with his wishes, Makiko withheld details regarding his condition from the public, and the Chamber of Deputies voted to declare his seat vacant for medical reasons.
He made his first public appearance since the stroke on 1 January 1987, and was in clearly poor condition, with half his face paralyzed. Initial plans to return to politics were abandoned as his health deteriorated, and he announced his retirement in October 1989.
He was later diagnosed with diabetes, and died of pneumonia at a Mişeyáke hospital on 15 December 1993.
Private life
Kōichi married Hana Sakamoto in 1942. The marriage lasted until his death, and they had two children: Masanori (1942–1948) and Makiko (b. 1944).
Hana remained out of the public eye during his ministerial term due to long-standing health problems. Her poor health contributed to Kōichi's solitary tendencies, and his extremely close relationship with Makiko.