Editing Toshiki Kaifu (section)

==Premiership (1989–1991)==
{{seealso|First Kaifu Cabinet|Second Kaifu Cabinet}}
[[File:17th G7 summit member 19910715.jpg|thumb|left|Kaifu (5th from left) with leaders of the [[G7]] at the [[17th G7 summit]] in [[London]], 15 July 1991]]
On 10 August 1991, Kaifu became the first leader of a major country to make an official visit to China and break China's diplomatic isolation after the [[1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Japanese Prime Minister Meets With China's Communist Leader |url=https://www.apnews.com/09f8feb057f36ea1dc9b44052d34ef1e |access-date=17 April 2019 |work=Associated Press |date=12 August 1991 |archive-date=17 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417020720/https://www.apnews.com/09f8feb057f36ea1dc9b44052d34ef1e |url-status=dead }}</ref> Kaifu ended Japan's participation in economic sanctions against China and offered $949.9 million in loans and an additional $1.5 million in emergency aid following flood damage in southern China in June and July.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1991/08/09/Prime-Minister-Toshiki-Kaifu-departs-Saturday-for-Beijing-to/6756681710400/|title=Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu departs Saturday for Beijing to...|work=UPI|access-date=22 October 2018}}</ref> In 1991 he sent the [[Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force|Maritime Self-Defense Force]] to the [[Persian Gulf]] in the wake of the [[Gulf War]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2022/01/e6e199986d85-ex-japan-pm-kaifu-dies-at-91.html|title = Ex-Japan PM Kaifu, who dispatched SDF to Persian Gulf, dies at 91}}</ref>

Throughout his two Cabinets, Kaifu's faction was too small to push through the reforms he sought, and the continuing repercussions of the [[Sagawa Express]] scandal caused problems. He resigned in November 1991 and was replaced by [[Kiichi Miyazawa]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Jameson|first=Sam|title=Miyazawa's Party Faction Chief Indicted|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-02-02-mn-2010-story.html|access-date=11 January 2013|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=2 February 1992|location=Tokyo}}</ref>

In 1994, he left the LDP to become head of the newly-founded [[New Frontier Party (Japan)|New Frontier Party]].<ref>{{cite news |title=New party taps |url=https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1994-12-09-9412080769-story.html |access-date=17 April 2019 |work=Sun Sentinel |date=9 December 1994}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Ex-premier to head new Japanese party |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1994/12/09/ex-premier-to-head-new-japanese-party/2e639f7f-26e0-491c-8a90-1d5e14abbbbc/ |access-date=17 April 2019 |newspaper=The Washington Post|date=8 December 1994}}</ref> He was then nominated by [[Ichirō Ozawa]] and [[Tsutomu Hata]] as prime minister in June 1994 against the LDP-Socialist coalition candidate [[Tomiichi Murayama]] but lost in the Diet vote. He supported Ozawa's party until he returned to LDP in 2003.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dobson |first1=Hugo|author2-link=Caroline Rose (political scientist) |last2=Rose |first2=Caroline |title=The Afterlives of Post-War Japanese Prime Ministers |journal=Journal of Contemporary Asia |date=2019 |volume=49 |issue=1 |pages=127–150 |doi=10.1080/00472336.2018.1460389|doi-access=free }}</ref> He was defeated in the election of 2009 by DPJ candidate [[Mitsunori Okamoto]],<ref>{{cite news |last1=Murakami |first1=Mutsuko |title=Untested New Regime Raises Fresh Hopes |url=http://www.ipsnews.net/2009/09/politics-japan-untested-new-regime-raises-fresh-hopes/ |access-date=17 April 2019 |agency=Inter Press Service |date=1 September 2009}}</ref> which witnessed the end of almost uninterrupted LDP dominance since 1955.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Maeda |first1=Ko |title=Factors behind the Historic Defeat of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party in 2009 |journal=Asian Survey |date=September–October 2010 |volume=50 |issue=5 |pages=888–907 |doi=10.1525/as.2010.50.5.888}}</ref> At the time of his defeat, he was the longest-serving member of the lower house of the [[Diet of Japan|Diet]], and he was also the first former prime minister to be defeated at a re-election since 1963.<ref>{{cite news |title=Several LDP bigwigs sent down to defeat |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2009/08/31/national/several-ldp-bigwigs-sent-down-to-defeat/ |access-date=17 April 2019 |work=The Japan Times|agency=Kyodo News|date=31 August 2009}}</ref>