A native of
Tochio, Niigata and graduate of
Takushoku University, he was elected to the
House of Representatives in the
1976 general election as part of the ruling
Liberal Democratic Party, and re-elected five times before losing his seat in the pivotal
1993 general election. He joined the
New Frontier Party in 1997 and then won a seat on the
Liberal Party proportional representation slate for the
House of Councillors in the
1998 election. He led electoral cooperation talks between the LP and LDP which broke down in March 2000 concurrently with failed merger talks between party presidents
Keizo Obuchi and
Ichiro Ozawa. The LP subsequently merged with the
Democratic Party of Japan and Watanabe retained his House of Councillors seat on the DPJ slate in the
2004 election. He left the DPJ in 2008 to start the Reform Club, which became the
New Renaissance Party in April 2010 under the leadership of
Yoichi Masuzoe. Watanabe retired from politics upon refusing to run in the
2010 House of Councillors election. Watanabe was the chairman of
Japan-Myanmar Friendship Association. Watanabe first provided aid to Myanmar in 1987 and then began interacting with the military. He has had close ties with the military's proxy
Union Solidarity and Development Party since the time of ex-general
Thein Sein’s quasi-civilian government. It is said that he has been close to Senior General
Min Aung Hlaing for over a decade, and they met shortly before and after the February 2021 coup. Following the military coup d'état, he told
The Asahi Shimbun newspaper that Min Aung Hlaing had not staged a coup but "done what he should have in accordance with the law". In November 2022, he was awarded the title of
Thiri Pyanchi, one of the country's highest honors. Watanabe died on July 31, 2024, at the age of 90. == References ==