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Article: Kaifu loses his minder. (Ichiro Ozawa, Secretary General of Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu's Liberal Democratic Party resigns) (Japan)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- April 13, 1991
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1991 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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THE man who really ran the Japanese government, Ichiro Ozawa, resigned this week. Mr Ozawa was secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and provided the strong arm that supported the prime minister, Toshiki Kaifti. The outlook for Mr Kaifu during his remaining six months of office looks dismal. Mr Ozawa, though, is likely to be heard from again.
He resigned over what in European countries might have seemed a trivial matter. Mr Ozawa did a deal with two small parties to get through the Diet (parliament) Japan's $9 billion contribution to the Gulf coalition. The two parties demanded as the price for their support that the Liberal Democrats disown ...