Watanabe Tadao

Watanabe Tadao (渡辺 忠雄, born 11 February 1936) is a former Yamataian politician who served as Prime Minister of Yamatai from 15 October 1998 to 26 June 2003. He was the first and thus far only Prime Minister from the Democratic Party of Yamatai.

First elected to the Teikoku Gikai in 1975, Watanabe became President of the DPY, the main opposition party, in January 1998. He then led the party to victory in the October 1998 general election, defeating the long-governing Yamatai Restoration Party (YRP), which had been in power since 1962. However, the Mizuno Land Scandal in 2003 forced Watanabe and his cabinet to resign. He represented the Yamashiro 3rd District in the Teikoku Gikai from 1975 to 2012. In 2012, Watanabe retired from politics.