Former Japanese Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata dies

A former Japanese Prime Minister, Tsutomu Hata, died on Monday aged 82, Kyodo News service reported, citing unnamed sources.

Mr.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.

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

Mr. Hata 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.

He was born in Tokyo on August 24, 1935 and the 80th Prime Minister of Japan for 9 weeks in 1994. He graduated from Seijo University.

(dpa/NAN)