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Profile of Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi

March 2000

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi was elected President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on July 24, 1998, following the resignation of Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, and became the eighty-fourth Prime Minister of Japan on July 30. He was reelected LDP President on September 21, 1999, and continues to devote himself to tackling numerous issues facing Japan and the world.

Political Philosophy

Prime Minister Obuchi seeks to shape Japan into a nation of "wealth and virtue." He envisages Japan achieving not only economic affluence but also a balance between the material and non-material and embracing great aspirations. In his January 1999 policy speech to the National Diet, the Prime Minister defined the current situation as the "third reform" for the nation, the first being the Meiji Restoration of 1868 and the second the period following World War II. In an increasingly fluid world of diversifying values, he stressed the need for society-wide reforms and a shift in the people's consciousness. Describing Japan's basic position toward the international community, the Prime Minister proposed that Japan would work actively with other countries for world peace and prosperity, holding democracy and market principles as its central tenets.

Political Style

The Prime Minister believes that the essence of politics lies in maintaining dialogue with many people and absorbing their views in order to draw together the nation's wisdom, then deciding what needs to be decided and putting them resolutely into action. He has resolved to continuously pursue "politics with responsibility" by actively using this approach. He is thus working hard to identify a vision of Japan for the twenty-first century by holding meetings with ordinary people, engaging them in direct dialogue through e-mail and other forums, and inviting policy recommendations from eminent persons.

Policy Goals

In his January 2000 policy speech, Prime Minister Obuchi presented two specific policy objectives. First, Japan must become a "nation founded on education" based on the belief that the most important element in building a bright future is fostering the country's human resources. All Japanese people who will be active in the twenty-first century should beautifully master the Japanese language as a cornerstone of their culture and tradition. They should also be able to communicate in English as the lingua franca of our age and easily participate in the international community through the Internet. Second, Japan must strive to become "a nation founded on the creativity of science and technology," assuming an important position in relevant fields by achieving lofty goals, such as discovering a complete cure for cancer through gene therapy.

Agenda for the Year 2000

The Prime Minister has also identified "five challenges" that need to be addressed with nationwide resolve and wisdom. These entail challenges in areas represented by "creativity," "assurance," "renaissance," "peace," and "the globe."

The "challenge for creativity" is based upon the awareness that creativity is an important key to boldly tackling the unknown, thus paving the way toward Japan's brighter future and contributing to the world. The major goal of education in the years to come must be to better enable schools, families, and communities to work together in fostering individuals with real creativity who will bear Japan's future on their shoulders. The Prime Minister has resolved to concentrate his energy on educational reform as his Cabinet's top priority. He has addressed his plan to launch a National Conference on Educational Reforms as early as possible, aiming to gather a wide range of opinions from the public and to discuss such issues as the fundamental premises of education. Science and technology provide an essential basis of Japan's development. The progress of science and technology is indispensable for establishing high levels of creativity. The Prime Minister has thus placed the promotion of science and technology high on the agenda of his government as a whole.

To meet the "challenge for assurance," all Japanese people will be allowed to choose their own education, employment, child-care, and social security options according to their life plans, thus realizing a society where people of all generations can live healthy, prosperous, and reassured lives. Toward this aim, efforts are being made to establish a long-lasting, stable, and efficient social security system. Energy is also being directed at realizing a gender-equal society, in which men and women share life's joys and responsibilities, and securing employment opportunities for the elderly.

In order to tackle the "challenge for renaissance," the Prime Minister has expressed his resolve to devote himself fully to economic rebirth, not simply restoring the economy to its original shape but achieving both a real economic recovery and structural reforms.

The "challenge for peace" entails exerting every possible effort toward a complete abolition of wars between ideologies, nations, and regions, which have been repeated throughout the twentieth century, while taking an active role in the international community based upon the recognition that Japan can achieve a brilliant future only where the world enjoys peace and stability.

Finally, addressing the "challenge for the globe," Prime Minister Obuchi noted that mass production, mass consumption, and mass waste in Japanese society are imposing a major burden on the global environment. He thus stressed the urgent need to re-examine the existing styles of our society and create a "recycling society" based on the recycling of physical materials at all phases of economic activity, such as production, distribution, consumption, and disposal.

Track Record

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi has tackled various issues in the areas of domestic politics, economy, and foreign policy, achieving the following results.

1. Domestic Politics

The Prime Minister established the Commission on Japan's Goals in the Twenty-first Century in March 1999, bringing together eminent figures from various fields to draw up a blueprint for Japan in the new century. Members discussed ways to create a nation of "wealth and virtue" from various angles. In January 2000, after 10 months of intensive debate, the Commission compiled a report containing medium- to long-term issues and policy measures for Japan, offering a basis for wide-ranging discussions among the Japanese people.

During the 145th Diet session in 1999, a number of important bills were passed, such as those relating to the reform of central government Ministries and Agencies; decentralization of control to local governments; public information access; the National Anthem and Flag; measures against organized crime (three laws, including one on wire-tapping); Diet institutions (establishing the Research Commission on the Constitution); Diet deliberations (abolishing the system of having public servants answer for Cabinet Ministers during interpellations); and the Japan-U.S. Defense Cooperation Guidelines to maintain peace and stability in areas surrounding Japan.

Further, following the criticality accident at a nuclear fuel processing plant at the end of September 1999, the 146th Diet session passed several laws, including one outlining special measures to deal swiftly with nuclear disasters.

The Prime Minister has been promoting a series of Millennium Projects to develop new industries and meet the challenges confronting humankind in the new millennium. The Projects are to be undertaken collaboratively by industry, academia, and government in three areas of greatest importance to Japan: informatization, aging, and environmental protection. Specifically, in the area of informatization, the goal of the Project is to provide Internet facilities at all public elementary, middle, and high schools. Recommendations include the development of both local-area networks and computerized educational materials for public schools, as well as infrastructure-building for a paperless electronic administration using the Internet for all administrative procedures. To deal with the aging society and realize breakthroughs in personalized medical care, the Projects aim at achieving by fiscal 2004 tailor-made therapies based upon the identification of genes relating to gerontological diseases, such as senile dementia and cancer. There are also proposals for introducing fuel cell cars by fiscal 2005 to protect the environment and promote the development and employment of next-generation technology as part of the fight against global warming. They also involve plans to achieve a 90 percent cut in dioxin and other emissions by fiscal 2002 to ensure a safe and secure environment.

The imminent advent of an aging society urgently requires improvements in social security, including pensions, medical care, and nursing care. In this context, a system of nursing care insurance is being introduced in April 2000.

2. Economy

The Prime Minister has given his top priority to economic rebirth. He established the Economic Strategy Council in August 1998, shortly after his inauguration, as an advisory body comprising experts from the private sector and academia. The largest-ever package of emergency economic measures was drafted in fall the same year, earmarking a total of 27 trillion yen to stimulate economic activity. In addition, the Prime Minister adopted measures to stabilize the feeble financial system, including the introduction of a bridge bank system in October 1998 to find recipients of failed banks and to protect sound borrowers. This was followed by capital injections into poor-performing financial institutions.

The Prime Minister has also worked actively to support Asian countries shaken by the currency and economic crises. He has included in the above package of emergency economic measures a support plan for Asia on a scale of 1 trillion yen (8.3 billion dollars). The Industrial Competitiveness Council was launched in March 1999 to explore ways to revitalize the Japanese economy. Based upon discussions at these forums, the government drafted a set of emergency employment and industrial competitiveness measures in June 1999 to create 700,000 new jobs and to facilitate industrial restructuring.

Further measures for economic rebirth were announced in November 1999. In recognition of the urgent need to revise the basic structure of society and economy and its underlying concepts, wide-ranging concrete measures were devised to stimulate small- and medium-sized enterprises and venture businesses. The 146th Diet session passed legislation to review and improve policies for small- and medium-sized enterprises. The Prime Minister displayed strong leadership in the budgetary process for fiscal 2000 by ensuring the focused and efficient allocation of a special 500 billion yen budgetary package for economic rebirth using his own prioritization criteria for measures proposed by each ministry and agency.

3. Foreign Policy

Prime Minister Obuchi has actively engaged in "summit diplomacy" since taking office in July 1998. His first summit meeting was that with President Bill Clinton of the United States in September 1998. In October he met with President Kim Dae Jung of the Republic of Korea. In November he visited Russia, meeting with President Boris Yeltsin and engaging in negotiations on the return of the Northern Territories, a long unresolved issue. He successfully hosted the first-ever visit to Japan by the head of state of the People's Republic of China when he welcomed President Jiang Zemin. In January 1999 he visited France, Italy, and Germany. He also traveled to the United States during the period from late April to early May to meet with President Clinton, affirming the two countries' commitment to cooperating further in building a peaceful and prosperous world in the twenty-first century. In June he attended a summit meeting with five Nordic nations in Reykjavik, Iceland, where he announced that Japan would strengthen its partnership with Northern Europe. Prime Minister Obuchi visited China and Mongolia in July. In China he met with President Jiang and agreed to promote bilateral cooperation, building a bridge to the twenty-first century. In Mongolia, he and Prime Minister Janlavin Narantsatsralt vowed to develop further the "comprehensive partnership" between the two nations.

The Prime Minister attended the G8 Summit in Cologne, Germany, in June 1999, stressing that Japan would play an active role in resolving such worldwide issues as poverty and environmental destruction, issues that have become prevalent with the progress of globalization. He also announced that the 2000 Summit, to be hosted by Japan, would be held in Okinawa, asking for the other members' cooperation. In January 2000 he visited Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand, explaining that at the Kyushu-Okinawa Summit Meeting Japan would convey a bright and strong message that fully reflects Asian interests while taking global perspectives into account.

The Prime Minister is expected to play an even more active role in foreign policy in working toward a successful Kyushu-Okinawa Summit.

Prime Minister Obuchi was born in Gunma Prefecture on June 25, 1937. He and his wife Chizuko have one son and two daughters. In his spare time, the Prime Minister enjoys listening to Tchaikovsky and other pieces of classical music as well as reading historical novels.

Additional information on the Prime Minister is available on the Internet site of the Prime Minister's Official Residence (http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/profile/index.html) .

Brief Personal History