In 1989, Japanese Premier Noboru Takeshita announced his resignation over the Recruit Affair, the country's biggest political scandal in decades.

CNN: Friday,

Like many politicians, he was tainted by the 1988 Recruit insider-trading scandal that brought down the administration of then-Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | Japan: The Replacement Leader

Such is the price of provoking the septuagenarian Noboru Takeshita, a former prime minister who is still the most powerful figure in Japanese politics.

ECONOMIST: The revenge of Japan��s old brigade