Toshiki Kaifu

The native form of this personal name is Kaifu Toshiki. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

Toshiki Kaifu (海部 俊樹, Kaifu Toshiki, 2 January 1931 – 9 January 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1989 to 1991.

Toshiki Kaifu
海部 俊樹
Official portrait, 1989
Prime Minister of Japan
In office 10 August 1989 – 5 November 1991
Monarch	Akihito
Preceded by	Sōsuke Uno
Succeeded by	Kiichi Miyazawa
President of the Liberal Democratic Party
In office 8 August 1989 – 30 October 1991
Secretary-General	Ichirō Ozawa Keizō Obuchi
Preceded by	Sōsuke Uno
Succeeded by	Kiichi Miyazawa
Minister of Finance [citation needed]
In office 14 October 1991 – 5 November 1991 [citation needed]
Preceded by	Ryutaro Hashimoto
Succeeded by	Tsutomu Hata
Minister of Education
In office 28 December 1985 – 22 July 1986 [citation needed]
Prime Minister	Yasuhiro Nakasone
Preceded by	Hikaru Matsunaga
Succeeded by	Masayuki Fujio
In office 24 December 1976 – 28 November 1977 [citation needed]
Prime Minister	Takeo Fukuda
Preceded by	Michio Nagai
Succeeded by	Shigetami Sunada
Preceded by	Seiroku Kajiyama
Succeeded by	Hyosuke Kujiraoka
Member of the House of Representatives
In office 20 November 1960 – 21 July 2009
Preceded by	Multi-member district
Succeeded by	Mitsunori Okamoto
Constituency	Aichi 3rd (1960–1996) Aichi 9th (1996–2009)
Personal details
Born	(1931-01-02)2 January 1931 Nagoya, Japan
Died	9 January 2022(2022-01-09) (aged 91) Tokyo, Japan
Political party	Liberal Democratic (1960–1994; 2003–2022)
Other political affiliations	New Frontier (1994–1997) Independent (1997–1998) Liberal (1998–2000) New Conservative (2000–2003)
Spouse	Sachiyo Yanagihara ​ (m. 1955)​
Children	2
Alma mater	Chuo University Waseda University
Signature

Born in Nagoya, Kaifu graduated from Waseda University and was first elected to the Diet in 1960 as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party. He served as education minister from 1976 to 1977 under Takeo Fukuda, and from 1985 to 1986 under Yasuhiro Nakasone. In 1989, Kaifu became prime minister after the resignations of the last two premiers, Noboru Takeshita and Sosuke Uno, amid various scandals; he was chosen in part because of his clean image. During his tenure, Kaifu worked to improve relations with China and made large financial contributions to the coalition in the Persian Gulf War. After his attempts at political reform were unsuccessful, Kaifu resigned as prime minister in 1991 and was replaced by Kiichi Miyazawa.

Early life and education

Kaifu was born on 2 January 1931, in Nagoya City, the eldest of six brothers. His family's business Nakamura Photo Studio was established by his grandfather in the Meiji era, and was situated next to the Matsuzakaya flagship department store.^[1]

Kaifu took the exam to the Aichi Prefectural Asahigaoka Senior High School, and while of the eleven students who took the test from the same school, nine were accepted and two, including Kaifu, were not. As part of the student labor mobilization during the war, he was placed in a Mitsui Heavy Industry factory where he assembled airplane engine parts day and night. In 1945, he was accepted in the Youth Airman Academy of the Imperial Japanese Army, but the war ended before his planned enrolment in October.^[1] He was then educated at Chuo University and Waseda University.^[2]

Political career

A member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Kaifu ran successfully for the 1960 Japanese general election and took office as the youngest member of the National Diet.^[3] He served for sixteen terms, totaling 48 years.^[4]

Kaifu was education minister before rising to lead the party after the resignations of Takeshita Noboru and Sōsuke Uno.^[5] Facing Yoshiro Hayashi and Shintaro Ishihara,^[6] Kaifu was elected on the platform of clean leadership.^[7][8] He became the 76th Prime Minister of Japan in August 1989.^[9]

Premiership (1989–1991)

See also: First Kaifu Cabinet and Second Kaifu Cabinet

Kaifu (5th from left) with leaders of the G7 at the 17th G7 summit in London, 15 July 1991

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 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre.^[10] 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.^[11] In 1991 he sent the Maritime Self-Defense Force to the Persian Gulf in the wake of the Gulf War.^[12]

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.^[13]

In 1994, he left the LDP to become head of the newly-founded New Frontier Party.^[14][15] He was then nominated by Ichirō Ozawa and Tsutomu Hata as prime minister in June 1994 against the LDP-Socialist coalition candidate Tomiichi Murayama but lost in the Diet vote. He supported Ozawa's party until he returned to LDP in 2003.^[16] He was defeated in the election of 2009 by DPJ candidate Mitsunori Okamoto,^[17] which witnessed the end of almost uninterrupted LDP dominance since 1955.^[18] 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.^[19]

Personal life

On 17 November 1957, Kaifu married Sachiyo Yanagihara, a female assistant to Member of the House of Representatives.^[1][20] The couple had a son, Masaki [ja], and a daughter, Mutsumi.

Death

Kaifu died of pneumonia at a Tokyo hospital on 9 January 2022, at the age of 91. The announcement of his death to the media was delayed until 14 January.^[21][22][23]

Honours

• Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun of Peru (1989)^[24]

Election history

Election	Age	District	Political party	Number of votes	election results
1960 Japanese general election	29	Aichi 3rd district	LDP	49,767	winning
1963 Japanese general election	32	Aichi 3rd district	LDP	57,586	winning
1967 Japanese general election	36	Aichi 3rd district	LDP	80,874	winning
1969 Japanese general election	38	Aichi 3rd district	LDP	82,695	winning
1972 Japanese general election	41	Aichi 3rd district	LDP	87,733	winning
1976 Japanese general election	45	Aichi 3rd district	LDP	151,151	winning
1979 Japanese general election	48	Aichi 3rd district	LDP	119,049	winning
1980 Japanese general election	49	Aichi 3rd district	LDP	145,322	winning
1983 Japanese general election	52	Aichi 3rd district	LDP	123,415	winning
1986 Japanese general election	55	Aichi 3rd district	LDP	133,829	winning
1990 Japanese general election	59	Aichi 3rd district	LDP	195,713	winning
1993 Japanese general election	62	Aichi 3rd district	LDP	194,863	winning
1996 Japanese general election	65	Aichi 9th district	NFP	111,578	winning
2000 Japanese general election	69	Aichi 9th district	NCP	122,175	winning
2003 Japanese general election	72	Aichi 9th district	NCP	104,075	winning
2005 Japanese general election	74	Aichi 9th district	LDP	130,771	winning
2009 Japanese general election	78	Aichi 9th district	LDP	100,549	lost
[25][26]