Kiichi Miyazawa
Originally, the team was going to be renamed simply to the Yokohama Whales, but new restrictions on whaling in Japan convinced the company to drop the original name. Some superstitious fans had believed that dead whales put a curse onto the team (the Maruha Corporation was famous for its whale meat products), preventing the Whales from winning championships. In his visit to the United States, Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa remarked to then-president Bill Clinton (who had proposed international restriction on whaling) that the Maruha Corporation's decision was reflective of Japan's change in attitude towards whaling.