The aides of the late prime minister Ohira Masayoshi (who died in office) kept surreptitiously emptying dishes to persuade people he still had a healthy appetite.
When then prime minister Ohira Masayoshi collapsed (and later died) just as campaigning opened for the 1980 general election, the LDP ended up with a landslide victory.
It was in December 1979 that the Japanese prime minister, Masayoshi Ohira, paid a historic visit to Beijing to set the seal on wide-ranging plans for Sino-Japanese co-operation.