Editing Ryutaro Hashimoto (section)

{{short description|Prime Minister of Japan from 1996 to 1998}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{more footnotes|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_suffix    = 
| name                = Ryutaro Hashimoto
| native_name         = {{nobold|橋本 龍太郎}}
| native_name_lang    = ja
| image               = Ryutaro Hashimoto 19960111.jpg
| caption             = Official portrait, 1996
| office              = [[Prime Minister of Japan]]
| deputy              = [[Wataru Kubo]] (1996)
| monarch             = [[Akihito]]
| term_start          = 11 January 1996
| term_end            = 30 July 1998
| predecessor         = [[Tomiichi Murayama]]
| successor           = [[Keizō Obuchi]]
| office1             = [[President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)|President of the Liberal Democratic Party]]
| 1blankname1         = {{nowrap|[[Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party|Secretary-General]]}}
| 1namedata1          = [[Koichi Kato (politician, born 1939)|Koichi Kato]]
| term_start1         = 1 October 1995
| term_end1           = 24 July 1998
| predecessor1        = [[Yōhei Kōno]]
| successor1          = Keizō Obuchi
| office2             = [[Deputy Prime Minister of Japan]]
| primeminister2      = [[Tomiichi Murayama]]
| term_start2         = 2 October 1995
| term_end2           = 11 January 1996
| predecessor2        = Yōhei Kōno
| successor2          = [[Wataru Kubo]]
| office3             = [[Minister of Finance (Japan)|Minister of Finance]]
| primeminister3      = ''Himself''
| term_start3         = 28 January 1998
| term_end3           = 30 January 1998
| predecessor3        = [[Hiroshi Mitsuzuka]]
| successor3          = [[Hikaru Matsunaga]]
| primeminister4      = [[Toshiki Kaifu]]
| term_start4         = 10 August 1989
| term_end4           = 14 October 1991
| predecessor4        = [[Tatsuo Murayama]]
| successor4          = [[Toshiki Kaifu]]
| office5             = [[Ministry of International Trade and Industry|Minister of International Trade and Industry]]
| primeminister5      = [[Tomiichi Murayama]]
| term_start5         = 30 June 1994
| term_end5           = 11 January 1996
| predecessor5        = Eijiro Hata
| successor5          = Shunpei Tsukahara
| office6             = [[Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (Japan)|Minister of Transport]]
| primeminister6      = [[Yasuhiro Nakasone]]
| term_start6         = 22 July 1986
| term_end6           = 6 November 1987
| predecessor6        = [[Hiroshi Mitsuzuka]]
| successor6          = [[Shintaro Ishihara]]
| office7             = [[Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (Japan)|Minister of Health]]
| primeminister7      = [[Masayoshi Ōhira]]
| term_start7         = 7 December 1978
| term_end7           = 9 November 1979
| predecessor7        = Tatsuo Ozawa
| successor7          = Kyoichi Noro
| office8             = [[Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party]]
| president8          = [[Sōsuke Uno]]
| term_start8         = June 1989
| term_end8           = August 1989
| predecessor8        = [[Shintaro Abe]]
| successor8          = [[Ichirō Ozawa]]
| office9             = Member of the [[House of Representatives (Japan)|House of Representatives]]
| constituency9       = [[Okayama 2nd district (1947–1993)|Okayama 2nd]] (1963–1996)<br>[[Okayama 4th district|Okayama 4th]] (1996–2005)
| term_start9         = 21 November 1963
| term_end9           = 8 August 2005
| predecessor9        = ''Multi-member district''
| successor9          = [[Michiyoshi Yunoki]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1937|7|29|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Sōja|Sōja, Okayama]], [[Empire of Japan|Japan]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|2006|7|1|1937|7|29|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Shinjuku|Shinjuku, Tokyo]], Japan
| spouse              = {{marriage|Kumiko Nakamura|1966}}
| relatives           = [[Daijiro Hashimoto]] (brother)
| children            = [[Gaku Hashimoto]]
| alma_mater          = [[Keio University]]
| party               = [[Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)|Liberal Democratic]]
| signature           = Ryutaro Hashimoto kao.svg
| module              = {{Listen|pos=center|embed=yes|filename=Ryutaro Hashimoto voice.ogg|title=Ryutaro Hashimoto's voice|type=speech|description=Hashimoto at a press conference following the first [[Asia–Europe Meeting]] summit<br/>Recorded 2 March 1996}}
}}
{{nihongo|'''Ryutaro Hashimoto'''|橋本 龍太郎|Hashimoto Ryūtarō|29 July 1937 – 1 July 2006}} was a Japanese politician who served as [[Prime Minister of Japan|prime minister of Japan]] from 1996 to 1998.

Born in [[Okayama Prefecture]], Hashimoto graduated from [[Keio University]] in 1960 and entered the [[National Diet]] in 1963. He rose through the ranks of the [[Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)|Liberal Democratic Party]] and became major figure in the [[Kakuei Tanaka|Tanaka]]/[[Noboru Takeshita|Takeshita]] faction, and served as health and welfare minister under [[Masayoshi Ōhira]], transport minister under [[Yasuhiro Nakasone]], and finance minister under [[Toshiki Kaifu]]. In 1994, he became minister of international trade and industry, then became prime minister in 1996 as the head of a coalition with the [[Social Democratic Party (Japan)|Social Democratic Party]] and [[New Party Sakigake]]. During his tenure, Hashimoto sought currency reform and tried to revive the Japanese economy. He resigned after the LDP lost its majority in the [[1998 Japanese House of Councillors election|1998 upper house election]], but remained leader of his faction until a scandal in 2004. He retired from politics in 2005.