Yasuo 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.

Fukuda was born in Takasaki, Gunma, the eldest son of politician (later the 67th Prime Minister) Takeo Fukuda.

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.

Fukuda ran for the House of Representatives in 1990 and won a seat.

Fukuda was formally elected as Japan's 91st prime minister on 25 September.

He received 338 votes, almost 100 more than necessary for a majority, in the House of Representatives; although the House of Councillors (the upper house), led by the opposition Democratic Party, elected Ichirō Ozawa over Fukuda by a margin of 133 to 106.

This deadlock was then resolved in favor of the lower house's choice, according to Article 67 of the Constitution.

Fukuda and his cabinet were formally sworn in by Emperor Akihito on 26 September.

He was elected deputy director of the Liberal Democratic Party in 1997 and became Chief Cabinet Secretary to Yoshirō Mori in October 2000.

He was previously the longest-serving Chief Cabinet Secretary in Japanese history, serving in that role from 2000 to 2004 under Prime Ministers Yoshirō Mori and Junichiro Koizumi.

His record was surpassed by Yoshihide Suga, who served almost twice as long.

He resigned his position as Chief Cabinet Secretary on 7 May 2004 amid a large political scandal related to the Japanese pension system.

Fukuda was considered a contender for the leadership of the LDP in 2006, but, on 21 July, he decided that he would not seek the nomination.

Instead, Shinzō Abe succeeded Junichirō Koizumi as leader of the LDP and Prime Minister of Japan.

One of his most noted policy goals is to end prime ministerial visits to Yasukuni Shrine.

In June 2006, Fukuda joined 134 other lawmakers in proposing a secular alternative to the shrine, citing constitutional concerns.

Yasuo Fukuda (福田 康夫) is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2007 to 2008.

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.

Fukuda also served as president of the Japanese Canoe Federation prior to his September 2007 election as Prime Minister.

Following Abe's resignation in September 2007, Fukuda announced that he would run in the Liberal Democratic Party leadership election, which would also determine the prime minister, given the LDP's majority in the House of Representatives.

Fukuda received a great deal of support in his bid, including that of the LDP's largest faction, led by Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura, of which Fukuda is a member.

Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga, who initially had intended to run for the leadership, also backed Fukuda.

Fukuda's only competitor for the leadership, Tarō Asō, publicly acknowledged the likelihood of his own defeat a week before the election.

In the election, on 23 September, he defeated Aso, receiving 330 votes against Aso's 197.

On 1 September 2008, Fukuda announced his resignation as party leader, and was succeeded by Taro Aso.

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.

On 11 June 2008, a non-binding censure motion was passed by parliament's opposition-controlled upper house against Yasuo Fukuda.

Filed by the Democratic Party of Japan and two other parties, it was the first censure motion against a prime minister under Japan's post-war constitution.

Ahead of the G8 summit, it attacked his handling of domestic issues including an unpopular medical plan and called for a snap election or his resignation.

On 12 June, a motion of confidence was passed by the lower house's ruling coalition to counter the censure.

On 1 September 2008, Fukuda announced his resignation, citing reasons related to improving the flow of the political process.

The sudden announcement began with a call for an emergency press conference issued at 6:00 pm, The purpose not disclosed until 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start of the press conference.

The resignation was widely compared to the sudden resignation of Abe a year earlier.

Fukuda said that while Abe's resignation was due to health reasons, his own resignation was motivated by a desire to remove impediments to legislative and political process due to deadlock between his party and the opposition-controlled upper house of the Diet.

The resignation led to another leadership election within the LDP.