15 Facts About Toshiki Kaifu

Toshiki Kaifu was a Japanese politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1989 to 1991.

Toshiki Kaifu served as education minister from 1976 to 1977 under Takeo Fukuda, and from 1985 to 1986 under Yasuhiro Nakasone.

In 1989, Toshiki 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.

Toshiki Kaifu was born on 2 January 1931, in Nagoya City, the eldest of six brothers.

Toshiki 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 Toshiki Kaifu, were not.

Toshiki Kaifu was then educated at Chuo University and Waseda University.

Toshiki Kaifu was education minister before rising to lead the party after the resignations of Takeshita Noboru and Sosuke Uno.

Toshiki Kaifu became the 76th Prime Minister of Japan in August 1989.

On 10 August 1991, Toshiki 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.

Toshiki Kaifu resigned in November 1991 and was replaced by Kiichi Miyazawa.

Toshiki Kaifu was then nominated by Ichiro Ozawa and Tsutomu Hata as prime minister in June 1994 against the LDP-Socialist coalition candidate Tomiichi Murayama but lost in the Diet vote.

Toshiki Kaifu supported Ozawa's party until he returned to LDP in 2003.

Toshiki Kaifu was defeated in the election of 2009 by DPJ candidate Mitsunori Okamoto, which witnessed the end of almost uninterrupted LDP dominance since 1955.

On 17 November 1957, Toshiki Kaifu married Sachiyo Yanagihara, a female assistant to Member of the House of Representatives.

Toshiki Kaifu died of pneumonia at a Tokyo hospital on 9 January 2022, at the age of 91.