Quick Facts
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Toshiki Kaifu (海部 俊樹, Kaifu Toshiki, born 2 January 1931) is a Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1989 to 1991.
Early life and education
Kaifu was born in Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture, on 2 January 1931. He was educated at Chuo University and Waseda University.
Career
A member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Kaifu ran successfully for the 1960 Japanese general election andtook office as the youngest member of the National Diet. He served for sixteen terms, totaling 49 years. Kaifu was education minister before rising to lead the party after the resignations of Takeshita Noboru and Sōsuke Uno. Facing Yoshiro Hayashi and Shintaro Ishihara, Kaifu was elected on the platform of clean leadership. He became the 76th Prime Minister of Japan in August 1989.
On 10 August 1991, Kaifu became the first leader of a major country to make an official visit to China and break China's diplomatic isolation after the Tiananmen Square Incident of June 4, 1989. Kaifu ended Japan's participation in economic sanctions against China and offered $949.9 million in loans and an additional $1.5 million in emergency aid following flood damage in southern China in June and July.
Throughout his two Cabinets, Kaifu's faction was too small to push through the reforms he sought, and the continuing repercussions of the Sagawa Express scandal caused problems. He resigned in November 1991 and was replaced by Kiichi Miyazawa.
In 1994, he left the LDP to become head of the newly founded New Frontier Party. He supported Ichirō Ozawa's party until he returned to LDP in 2003. He was defeated in the election of 2009 by DPJ candidate Mitsunori Okamoto, which witnessed the end of almost uninterrupted LDP dominance since 1955. At the time of his defeat, he was the longest-serving member of the lower house of the Diet, and he was also the first former prime minister to be defeated at a re-election since 1963.
Honours
From the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia
- Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers (July 2011)
In popular culture
Kaifu is one of several world leaders depicted on the cover of Megadeth's 1990 album Rust in Peace.
