Keizo Obuchi Obuchi was born in Gunma Prefecture on June 25, 1937, the second son of Kohei Obuchi, a yarn mill owner who was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1949 but that subsequently failed to win on three ensuing attempts. The 1958 victory brought Obuchi's father back to the Diet but unfortunately he passed away just three months later. Obuchi, who had just enrolled in the Faculty of Literature at Waseda University in Tokyo, went into his father's footsteps but he had to wait until he was 25 to run for public office. In the meantime, he set out on a worldwide trip that lasted nine months. Three months after returning from his trip, in November 1963, Obuchi was elected in his father's constituency (Gunma -3) and has been re-elected ever since. At 26, he was the youngest member of the House of Representatives. In 1970, after his third victory, he was appointed Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Posts and Telecommunications. In 1973, he was appointed Deputy Director General of the Prime Minister's Office. Obuchi gained a cabinet post for the first time in November 1979, when he was appointed Minister of State, Director General of the Prime Minister's Office and concurrently Director General of the Okinawa Development Agency in the second cabinet of Prime Minister Masayoshi Ohira. In 1983, he served as Chairman of the House of Representatives Special Committee on Security and in 1986, as Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on the Budget. In November 1987, he was appointed Chief Cabinet Secretary of Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita. In April 1991, Obuchi was appointed Secretary General of the LDP, while Yohei Knon was elected President of the party. In July 1994, he was appointed Vice-president of the party, essentially taking over the management of the party, which was then headed by Hashimoto. In September 1997, Obuchi was appointed Foreign Minister in the second cabinet of Prime Minister Hashimoto. Upon the resignation of Hashimoto from the LDP presidency (July 1998), Obuchi was elected President of the LDP. He became Prime Minister on July 30, 1998. On April 2, 2000, he suffered a stroke and lapsed in a coma. The LDP then appointed on April 6th, theSecretary-General of the party, Mr. Mori as his successor. updated April 2000 | |||
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