May 14, 2026

Ex-Japanese Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata Dies at 82

By Farouk Mohammed

Former Japanese Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata has died on Monday aged 82, Kyodo News service reports.

Hata, who served as premier for just 64 days in 1994, was one of the revolving-door prime ministers of the 1990s, who followed a series of political scandals.

In 1993, he left the long-time ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to launch a new party with some other influential LDP lawmakers such as Ichiro Ozawa.

Hata, who led the now-defunct Japan Renewal Party, headed a coalition government from late April to the end of June in 1994.

He was first elected as a House of Representatives member from Nagano prefecture in 1969 and served as agriculture minister, finance minister and foreign minister between 1988 and 1994.

He retired from politics in 2012.

Hata was born in Tokyo on Aug. 24, 1935 and the 80th Prime Minister of Japan for 9 weeks in 1994.

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