Kiichi Miyazawa
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Kiichi Miyazawa (宮澤 喜一 Miyazawa Ki'ichi) (born 1919) is a Japanese politician and was the 78th Prime Minister from November 5, 1991 to 1993.
He was born in Hiroshima Prefecture and graduated from Tokyo Imperial University with a degree in law. In 1942, he joined the Ministry of Finance. In 1953, he was elected to the upper house of the Diet of Japan, where he stayed until moving to the lower house in 1967.
Miyazawa held a number of prominent public positions, including Minister of International Trade and Industry (1970-71), Minister of Foreign Affairs (1974-76), Director General of the Economic Planning Agency (1977-78), and Chief Cabinet Secretary (1984-86). He became Minister of Finance under the government of Noboru Takeshita in 1987, but had to resign amid the Recruit scandal.
He became Prime Minister in November 1991, gaining brief fame in the United States when U.S. President George H. W. Bush vomited in his lap during a state visit in January, 1992. Miyazawa had to resign in 1993 because he faced a vote of no confidence.
He later returned to the post of finance minister from 1999 to 2002 in the governments of Keizo Obuchi and Yoshiro Mori. Miyazawa remains in the Diet and is also a member of the Trilateral Commission.
| Preceded by: Toshiki Kaifu | Prime Minister of Japan 1991–1993 | Succeeded by: Morihiro Hosokawa |