June 25, 1937 Born in Nakanojo, Gunma Prefecture. Apr. 1943 Enters elementary school. Jan. 1949 Obuchi's father, Kohei, is elected to the House of Representatives. Apr. 1949 Enters middle school. Apr. 1950 Moves to Tokyo. Apr. 1958 Enters the School of Literature of Waseda University (majoring in English literature). Aug. 1958 Father Kohei passes away. Obuchi resolves to pursue a political career, and joins the university speech club. Mar. 1962 Graduates from the School of Literature of Waseda University. Enters the university's Graduate School of Political Science. Jan. 1963 Sets off on a nine-month trip around the world. Visits 38 countries in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas and returns to Japan in September. Nov. 21, 1963 Elected to the House of Representatives. At age 26, Obuchi becomes the youngest member of the national legislature. Apr. 1967 Marries Chizuko Ono. Jan. 1970 Appointed Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Posts and Telecommunications. July 1972 Appointed Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Construction. Nov. 1973 Appointed Deputy Director General of the Prime Minister's Office. May 1974 Visits Southeast Asia as a special envoy of the Prime Minister. Nov. 1979 Appointed Director General of the Prime Minister's Office and Director General of the Okinawa Development Agency. Nov. 6, 1987 Appointed Chief Cabinet Secretary. Aug. 1, 1988 Recognized for his long years of service in the Diet. Jan. 7, 1989 Announces the name of the new imperial era, Heisei, after Emperor Hirohito passes away. Feb. 24, 1989 Participates in the funeral ceremonies for Emperor Hirohito as vice-chairman of the funeral committee. June 1990 Visits the United States for ceremonies marking the 30th anniversary of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty. Apr. 1991 Appointed LDP Secretary General. July 1994 Appointed LDP Vice-President. Jan. 1996 Heads the delegation of Japanese Diet members monitoring the elections of Palestinian representatives. Holds talks with Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Oct. 1996 Elected for the 12th time to the House of Representatives under the newly introduced single-member-district election system. June-July 1997 Leads a dialogue mission to Russia and four Central Asian countries. Sep. 1997 Appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs. Attends the 52nd session of the U.N. General Assembly. Nov. 1997 Attends the 9th APEC Ministerial Meeting held in Vancouver, Canada. Dec. 1997 Signs the convention banning antipersonnel landmines in Ottawa, Canada. July 24, 1998 Elected President of the LDP. July 30, 1998 Inaugurated as the 84th Prime Minister.