Yasuo Fukuda | |
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福田 康夫 | |
Fukuda at the 2008 World Economic Forum.
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Prime Minister of Japan | |
In office 26 September 2007 – 24 September 2008 |
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Monarch | Akihito |
Preceded by | Shinzo Abe |
Succeeded by | Tarō Asō |
Chief Cabinet Secretary | |
In office October 2000 – 7 May 2004 |
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Prime Minister |
Yoshirō Mori Junichiro Koizumi |
Preceded by | Hidenao Nakagawa |
Succeeded by | Hiroyuki Hosoda |
Member of the House of Representatives of the 4th Gunma Prefecture | |
In office 7 November 1996 – 16 November 2012 |
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Preceded by | New constituency |
Majority | 118,517 (62.83%) |
Personal details | |
Born |
Takasaki, Gunma, Japan |
16 July 1936
Political party | Liberal Democratic Party |
Spouse(s) | Kiyoko Fukuda |
Children | Tatsuo Fukuda |
Alma mater | Waseda University |
Yasuo Fukuda (福田 康夫 Fukuda Yasuo?, born 16 July 1936) was the 58th Prime Minister of Japan, serving from 2007 to 2008. He was previously the longest-serving Chief Cabinet Secretary in Japanese history, serving for three and a half years (2000–2004) under Prime Ministers Yoshirō Mori and Junichiro Koizumi.
Following the resignation of Prime Minister Shinzō Abe, Fukuda was elected as President of the Liberal Democratic Party and became Prime Minister in September 2007. Fukuda was the first son of a former Japanese Prime Minister (Takeo Fukuda) to also take up the post.
On 1 September 2008, Fukuda announced his resignation, triggering another LDP leadership election.
Although Japan hosted the G8 summit meeting without mishap during Fukuda's time in office, he himself earned little or no credit from ordinary Japanese, and when he resigned, he became the first of the G8 leaders to leave office.
Fukuda was born in Takasaki, Gunma, the eldest son of politician (later the 67th Prime Minister) Takeo Fukuda. He grew up in Setagaya, Tokyo, attending Azabu High School and graduating from Waseda University in 1959 with a degree in economics. After university, he joined Maruzen Petroleum (now part of the Cosmo Oil Company). He was only minimally involved in politics over the next seventeen years, working his way up to section chief as a typical Japanese "salaryman". He was posted to the United States from 1962-64. While his father Takeo Fukuda was prime minister from 1976–78, Yasuo became a political secretary. From 1978 to 1989, he was a director of the Kinzai Institute for Financial Affairs, serving as a trustee from 1986 onward.