TOKYO -- Japan's Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi was taken to hospital suddenly early on Sunday with an unknown condition brought on by overwork, the government's chief spokesman said.
Speaking to reporters at the premier's official residence more than 22 hours after Obuchi was hospitalized, Chief Cabinet Secretary Mikio Aoki said Obuchi, 62, was undergoing tests."The prime minister was hospitalized suddenly due to overwork around one o'clock in the morning today," Aoki said.
In a news conference that provided few hard facts, Aoki first said that he did not know if Obuchi was conscious. However he later reported the premier had been conscious when he visited him in hospital on Sunday afternoon.
Obuchi suffers from a heart condition for which he has a pacemaker. When he became prime minister in July 1998 there were questions raised about his health, but there have been no
reported problems since he took office.
Aoki said the government would consider whether to appoint an acting prime minister, but did not elaborate.
Kyodo news agency, quoting a senior member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), said Obuchi would not be able to resume his duties "for the time being" and reported that Aoki would be his stand-in.
Earlier, NHK television said Obuchi was worn out from manning a crisis center set up to cope with a rumbling volcano on the northern island of Hokkaido.
After suffering harsh criticism for its response to previous disasters including past volcanic eruptions, the huge Kobe 1995 earthquake and a nuclear accident last year, the government has been generally praised for its response to the Hokkaido incident.
Obuchi has also been under attack on the political front, where his three-way coalition -- battered for weeks by a series of high-profile scandals -- is now in the process of unravelling.
After talks on Saturday night with two other coalition partners, Obuchi said the smallest of the three parties would break away.
The departure of the hawkish Liberal Party, or at least a good chunk of it, could well dent Obuchi's already fading popularity ahead of elections for parliament's Lower House that must be held by October.
Obuchi has also been busy preparing for a Group of Eight (G8) summit to be held on Japan's southern island of Okinawa in July.
The premier has been keen for a summit success to help boost his ruling Liberal Democratic Party's performance in the Lower House election later this year, but has yet to find a headline-grabbing focus for the summit's agenda.
Obuchi's popularity ratings have been sliding since the formation of an expanded three-way coalition last October after rising from rock-bottom levels when he first took office in July 1998. The improvement in the ratings had been largely due to signs of an economic recovery and Obuchi's own amiable image.
The economy is still showing signs of renewed vigor, but the ruling camp has been hit by a series of scandals, including a number of high-profile cases involving senior police officials.
Obuchi had been something of a puzzle from the time he took office. Described as "cold pizza," "utterly lacking in charisma" and "without a bold idea in his head," he shrugged off the barbs with grace and simply asked people to get to know him.
Prior to his election, Obuchi had been a foreign minister and leader of the biggest faction in the LDP.
He is the youngest person ever elected to Japan's parliament and a martial arts expert.