Kaifu Toshiki

He was born in Aichi prefecture, and educated at Waseda University. A member of the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) (LDP), Kaifu ran successfully for parliament in 1960 and served for thirteen terms. He was education minister before rising to lead the party after the resignations of Takeshita Noboru and Uno Sosuke; he was selected as a "clean" leader. Kaifu became the 76th Prime Minister of Japan in August 1989, but his faction was too small to push through the reforms Kaifu sought, and the continuing repercussions of the Sagawa scandal caused problems. He resigned in February 1991 and was replaced by Miyazawa Kiichi.

In 1994 he left the LDP to become head of the newly founded Shinshinto[?] (New Frontier[?]) party.