Keizō Obuchi

Keizō Obuchi (小渕 恵三, Obuchi Keizō, 25 June 1937 – 14 May 2000) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1998 to 2000. Obuchi was elected to the House of Representatives in Gunma Prefecture in 1963, becoming the youngest legislator in Japanese history, and was re-elected to his seat eleven times. Obuchi rose through the ranks of the Liberal Democratic Party and distinguished himself in the prominent posts of Chief Cabinet Secretary and Minister for Foreign Affairs in the 1980s and 1990s. Obuchi became Prime Minister in 1998 after replacing Ryutaro Hashimoto as president of the Liberal Democratic Party, and his premiership was characterized by attempts to reverse the effects of the Lost Decade. Obuchi entered a coma in office in 2000, less than two years into his term as Prime Minister, and was replaced by Yoshiro Mori shortly before his death.