Hata, Tsutomu

Hata, Tsutomu

(tso͞otō`mo͞o hä`tä), 1935–, Japanese politician, b. Tokyo. After 10 years in Japan's private sector, he was elected (1969) to parliament as a member of the Liberal Democrat party (LDP) from Nagano prefecture, and was consistently reelected thereafter. In the 1980s and early 90s Hata held a number of cabinet posts in LDP governments, including minister of agriculture (1988) and finance (1991–92). The plainspoken legislator subsequently broke with the LDP, which he accused of tolerating political corruption, and with Ichiro Ozawa established (1993) the short-lived Japan Renewal (Shinseito) party, sparking Japan's biggest political reorganization the postwar years. Hata was deputy prime minister and foreign minister (1993–94) under Morihiro HosokawaHosokawa, Morihiro
, 1938–, Japanese politician, a member of a noble family and grandson of Fumimaro Konoye. A journalist and member of the Liberal Democratic party (LDP), he entered politics in 1971 when he was elected to the upper house of the Japanese parliament.
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, whom he briefly succeeded as prime minister in 1994. Hata resigned from office rather than face certain defeat in a parliamentary no-confidence vote. In 1995 he lost a Shinshinto (New Frontier party; Shinseito's successor) leadership contest to Ozawa.