Obuti, keizo

Obuti was born in Nakanojo near Tokyo in the family of a politician, owner of a weaving factory. At the age of 13, he went to study at a private high school in Tokyo, and in 1958 he entered the Waseda University , where he began to study the history of English literature in the hope of becoming a writer . In May of the same year, his father, Kohei Obuchi , after nine years of effort, regained his seat as a deputy in the House of Representatives. However, three months later he died suddenly. Then the student Keizo Obuti firmly decided to continue the work of his father and become a politician. For the sake of his future career, he joined the Yubankai club, which opened the way to the careers of many young politicians in Japan.

In November 1963, at the age of 26, Obuchi was elected to the parliament from the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), becoming the youngest member of the Japanese parliament. From this point on, he never lost the election to the House of Representatives from his Gunma prefecture. In 1970, Obuti was appointed Deputy Minister of Posts and Telecommunications. Then he also served as parliamentary deputy. the Minister of Construction, Deputy Head of the Office of the Prime Minister, served as the special envoy of the Prime Minister in several countries of South-East Asia ^[1] . In 1979, Obuchi got his first position: he was appointed Head of the Office of the Prime Minister and at the same time Head of the Okinawa Development Department. In 1991, he was elected General Secretary of the LDP, and in 1994 he became its vice-chairman. In 1997, Ryutaro Hashimoto appointed him to the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs, where Obuchi participated in negotiations with Russia on the issue of the Kuril Islands , as well as in negotiations on the unification of Korea .

In July 1998, after the resignation of Hashimoto, he became the leader of the LDP, and then, by a decision of the lower house of parliament, the prime minister. In the new post, Obuchi focused on two tasks: signing a peace treaty with Russia and restoring the Japanese economy. In September 1999, he was re-elected leader of the LDP, thereby extending his tenure as prime minister.

At the beginning of April 2000, Obuti suffered a severe stroke ( carosi ) and was taken to Juntendo Tokyo Hospital. The same evening, he lost consciousness. Despite all the efforts of doctors, it was not possible to remove him from the coma. Keiji Obuchi died on May 14, just before his 63rd birthday ^[2] .

In 1963, Obuti married an environmental essayist Shizuko Ono. They were introduced by Tomisaburo Hashimoto, a member of parliament and relative of Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto . They had a son and two daughters. The youngest daughter Yuko Obuti (born 1973) went into politics and in 2000 went to parliament.

Obuti was a big fan of the work of the historical novelist Rootaro Sib . He was also a big fan of the politician Sakamoto Ryoma , one of the key figures in the Meiji Restoration . Obuti collected bull figures (he was born in the year of the bull according to the Chinese horoscope ). He began to collect the collection in 1963 during the initial election to Parliament, and after 35 years his collection consisted of thousands of samples. Obuti was also keen on aikido and golf .