Born in Nagoya, Kaifu graduated from Waseda University and was first elected to the Diet in 1960 as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party.

In 1989, Kaifu became prime minister after the resignations of the last two premiers, Noboru Takeshita and Sosuke Uno, amid various scandals; he was chosen in part because of his clean image.

During his tenure, Kaifu worked to improve relations with China and made large financial contributions to the coalition in the Persian Gulf War.

His family's business Nakamura Photo Studio was established by his grandfather in the Meiji era, and was situated next to the Matsuzakaya flagship department store.

[12] Throughout his two Cabinets, Kaifu's faction was too small to push through the reforms he sought, and the continuing repercussions of the Sagawa Express scandal caused problems.

[14][15] He was then nominated by Ichirō Ozawa and Tsutomu Hata as prime minister in June 1994 against the LDP-Socialist coalition candidate Tomiichi Murayama but lost in the Diet vote.