Noboru Takeshita
The G7 is an unofficial annual forum for the leaders of Canada, the European Commission, France, West Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Japanese Prime Minister Masayoshi Ōhira suffered a fatal heart attack on 12 June, only days before the summit; and his colleague, Foreign Minister Saburō Ōkita, led the delegation which represented Japan in his place. Others joining Ōkita in Venice were Finance Minister Noboru Takeshita and the Minister of International Trade and Industry Yoshitake Sasaki who attended the foreign minister's meeting in Ōkita's place.