The retirement of former PM and LDP kingmaker Takeshita Noboru, 76, is widely regarded as heralding a generational change in the hidebound party.

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Others include former premiers Takeshita Noboru, Nakasone Yasuhiro and Miyazawa Kiichi.

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Takeshita Noboru is hospitalized for treatment of spondylitis deformans, a spinal deformation caused by aging which puts pressure on the nervous system and causes back pain and paralysis in the limbs.

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