Keizo Obuchi (25 June 1937 – 14 May 2000) was Prime Minister of Japan from 30 July 1998 to 5 April 2000, succeeding Ryutaro Hashimoto and preceding Mikio Aoki. Obuchi was a member of Jiminto, and his political career ended when he suffered a serious and ultimately fatal stroke in 2000.
Biography[]
Keizo Obuchi was born in Nakanojo, Gunma Prefecture, Japan in 1937, and he graduated from Waseda University in 1962. From January to September 1963, he travelled to 38 countries, completely circumnavigating the globe and taking odd jobs as he went, as he was short on money; he worked as a dishwasher, an assistant aikido instructor, and TV camera crew assistant. While in the United States, he met Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy at his office, and he was inspired to run for the House of Representatives, winning the November 1963 election for Gunma's 3rd district at the young age of 26; he was the youngest Japanese legislator in history. In 1987, he became Chief Cabinet Secretary, and he became the LDP Secretary-General in 1991. In 1997, Ryutaro Hashimoto made him Foreign Minister, and he became Prime Minister after Hashimoto resigned due to the LDP's electoral loss in Parliament. Obuchi increased public spending and lowered income taxes to briefly slow the recession, and he also gave shopping coupons to 35,000,000 citizens in an attempt to spark a consumer boom. On 1 April 2000, he suffered from a stroke during a debate, and he fell into a coma. It became apparent that he would not recover, so Yoshiro Mori took over as Prime Minister on 5 April. Obuchi died on 14 May 2000.