Alberto Fujimori Peru in November 2000 to attend a regional summit in Brunei. He then traveled on to Japan. Once there, he announced plans to remain in the country and faxed his resignation letter to Congress. After Congress rejected Fujimori's faxed resignation, they relieved Fujimori of his duties as president and banned him from Peruvian politics for a decade. He remained in self-imposed exile in Japan, where he resided with his friend, the famous Catholic novelist Ayako Sono. Several senior Japanese politicians have supported Fujimori, partly because of his decisive action in ending the 1997 Japanese embassy crisis. Alejandro Toledo, who assumed
Alberto Fujimori first term in office, APRA and Vargas Llosa's party, the FREDEMO, remained in control of both chambers of Congress, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, hampering the enactment of economic reform. Fujimori also had difficulty combatting the Maoist Shining Path () guerrilla organization due largely to what he perceived as intransigence and obstructionism in Congress. By March 1992, Congress met with the approval of only 17% of the electorate, according to one poll; the president's approval rate stood at 42%, in the same poll. In response to the political deadlock, Fujimori, with the support of the military, on 5