FACTBOX: Japan sees out 13 leaders in 20 years

(Reuters) - Japan began searching for a new prime minister on Tuesday after Yasuo Fukuda became the second leader to resign in less than a year.

Here is an overview of the rise and fall of Japan's last 13 prime ministers over the last two decades:

NOBORU TAKESHITA, LDP (November 1987 - June 1989)

- Takeshita was forced to resign after his popularity was hit by a shares-for-favors scandal, but remained "shadow shogun" of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) until his death in 2000.

SOSUKE UNO, LDP (June 1989 - August 1989)

- Just three months after taking office, Uno was forced to resign over allegations of relationships with geishas.

TOSHIKI KAIFU, LDP (August 1989 - November 1991)

- Picked for his "Mr Clean" image, Kaifu pledged to enact political reforms. He ran into opposition from party powerbrokers and they forced him to step down.

KIICHI MIYAZAWA, LDP (November 1991 - August 1993).

- Former finance minister Miyazawa presided over the LDP's first fall from power in nearly four decades. Party rebels voted in favor of a no-confidence measure against him. The party lost the ensuing general election and Miyazawa had to resign.

MORIHIRO HOSOKAWA, NEW JAPAN PARTY (August 1993 - April 1994)

- A former LDP member who left to form the reformist New Japan Party, he became prime minister in an eight-party anti-LDP coalition. He implemented political reforms but had to resign after the LDP stalled parliament with demands he come clean over alleged dubious deals with a scandal-tainted trucking firm.

TSUTOMU HATA, JAPAN RENEWAL PARTY (April 1994 - June 1994).

- Former LDP lawmaker Hata took over the anti-LDP coalition, but lost his footing when the Socialists pulled out and turned to their long-time arch rivals, the LDP, to create an odd alliance.

TOMIICHI MURAYAMA, JAPAN SOCIALIST PARTY (June 1994 - January 1996).

- Japan's first Socialist prime minister in 40 years, head of the LDP-Socialist alliance, appeared to weary of the burden of a job he had never expected to hold. He voluntarily passed the torch to then Trade Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto.

RYUTARO HASHIMOTO, LDP (January 1996 - July 1998).

- Hashimoto won public support with his tough stance in trade talks with the United States. But his fiscal policies helped tip the economy back into recession. He was forced to step down after voters gave the LDP a drubbing in Upper House elections.

KEIZO OBUCHI, LDP (July 1998 - April 2000)

- Plagued by rock-bottom popularity ratings and dubbed "Cold Pizza" when he took office, Obuchi enacted a banking system rescue. But his three-way coalition proved unpopular and his final days were plagued by scandal. He suffered a fatal stroke in April 2000.

YOSHIRO MORI, LDP (April 2000 - April 2001).

- Mori saw his limp public support vanish after a string of gaffes and scandals. LDP lawmakers grew keen to ditch him before an Upper House election and Mori brought forward the party leadership election to pick his replacement.

JUNICHIRO KOIZUMI, LDP (April 2001 - Sept 2006 )

- Koizumi presented himself as a fiery reformer ready to smash the old guard's stranglehold on politics. But relations with Asian neighbors plunged to new lows after his visits to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine for war dead. He stepped down at the end of his second term as head of the LDP, as promised.

SHINZO ABE, LDP (Sept 2006 - Sept 2007)

- Japan's youngest prime minister since World War II and a third-generation politician, Abe made revising the U.S.-drafted post-war pacifist constitution and boosting Japan's security profile a priority. His party lost control of the Upper House after a series of scandals and gaffes among cabinet ministers. He resigned just one year into his term.

YASUO FUKUDA (Sept, 2007 - Sept, 2008)

- A bespectacled 72-year old former oil company executive, Fukuda joked that he may have drawn the short straw as premier in a divided parliament when he took office. His support rates sagged after a failed attempt to forge a coalition with the main opposition Democratic Party. He quit after a year of struggling to pass legislation in the face of opposition stalling.

Source: Reuters

(Compiled by Gillian Murdoch, Beijing Editorial Reference Unit; Editing by Sophie Hardach)