Yasuo Fukuda

Yasuo Fukuda 福田 康夫
Fukuda at the 2008 World Economic Forum.
Prime Minister of Japan
In office September 26, 2007 – September 24, 2008
Monarch	Akihito
Preceded by	Shinzō Abe
Succeeded by	Taro Aso
Chief Cabinet Secretary
In office October 2000 – May 7, 2004
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 November 7, 1996 – November 16, 2012
Preceded by	New constituency
Majority	118,517 (62.83%)
Personal details
Born	(1936-07-16) July 16, 1936 Takasaki, Gunma, Japan
Political party	Liberal Democratic Party
Spouse(s)	Kiyoko Fukuda
Alma mater	Waseda University

Yasuo Fukuda (福田 康夫, Fukuda Yasuo, born July 16, 1936) was the 91st 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.^[1]

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 September 1, 2008, Fukuda announced his resignation, triggering another LDP leadership election.^[2] 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.^[3]

He is a member of the Club de Madrid, a group of more than 80 former Presidents and Prime ministers of democratic countries, which works to strengthen democratic leadership and governance.^[4]

Early life

Fukuda was born in Takasaki, Gunma, the eldest son of politician (later the 67th Prime Minister) Takeo Fukuda.^[1] 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 to 1964.

While his father Takeo Fukuda was prime minister from 1976 to 1978, 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 also served as president of the Japanese Canoe Federation prior to his September 2007 election as Prime Minister.^[5]

Political career

Fukuda ran for the House of Representatives in 1990 and won a seat.^[1] He was elected deputy director of the Liberal Democratic Party in 1997 and became Chief Cabinet Secretary to Yoshirō Mori in October 2000. He resigned his position as Chief Cabinet Secretary on May 7, 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 July 21 he decided that he would not seek the nomination. Instead, Shinzō Abe succeeded Junichiro 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.^[6]

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.^[1] Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga, who initially had intended to run for the leadership, also backed Fukuda.^[7] Fukuda's only competitor for the leadership, Taro Aso, publicly acknowledged the likelihood of his own defeat a week before the election.^[8]

In the election, on September 23, Fukuda defeated Aso, receiving 330 votes against Aso's 197.^[9] Fukuda was formally elected as Japan's 91st prime minister on September 25.^[10] 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.^[10][11]

Fukuda and his cabinet were formally sworn in by Emperor Akihito on September 26.^[12]

Censure motion

On June 11, 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. ^[13][14][15]

Motion of confidence

On June 12, a motion of confidence was passed by the lower house's ruling coalition to counter the censure.^[16]

Sudden resignation

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

The announcement was sudden, with the call for an emergency press conference issued at 6:00 pm, and 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.^[2]

The resignation led to another leadership election within the LDP. Taro Aso was viewed as the likely front-runner to replace Fukuda, and was elected a week later.^[17] Fukuda's popularity was hit by a controversial medical plan for elderly people, falling below 30% at one stage. He said:^[18][19][20]

Today, I have decided to resign. We need a new line-up to cope with a new session of parliament. My decision is based on what I thought the future political situation ought to be. The Democratic Party has tried to stall every bill so it has taken a long time to implement any policies. For the sake of the Japanese people, this should not be repeated. If we are to prioritize the people's livelihoods, there cannot be a political vacuum from political bargaining, or a lapse in policies. We need a new team to carry out policies.

Taro Aso was elected to succeed Fukuda as LDP President on September 22. Fukuda and his cabinet resigned en masse on September 24, 2008, to make way for a new Cabinet headed by Aso. Aso was elected as Prime Minister by the House of Representatives on the same day.^[21][22]

Diplomacy

In June 2014, Fukuda visited Beijing for secret meetings with Chinese government officials. The meeting was seen as the first after nearly 18 months between a senior Japanse political leader and Chinese officials. During the meeting, Fukuda was passed the message that President Xi wanted to meet with the Japanese Prime Minister Abe. Following this, in late July Fukuda conveyed the details of the discussion to Abe. On getting the consent from Abe, Fukuda returned to Beijing and on 28 July informed Xi about the consent from Abe, and thus laid the groundwork for the Japan-China summit that was held in November 2014.^[23][24]

Controversies

Statements on "Super Free"

When Fukuda was Chief Cabinet Secretary to former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi he was reported to have made highly controversial comments during an off-the-record discussion with reporters in June 2003 regarding the victims of rape by male members of the Waseda University "Super Free" club,^[25] according to an article in the weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun.^[26] The magazine quoted Fukuda as saying: "There are women who look like they are saying 'Do it to me'. Those who have that kind of appearance are at fault, because men are black panthers." In response, Fukuda claimed that the Shukan Bunshun had distorted his comments, stating that he had never intended to defend rape, and told a parliamentary panel afterward that rape was "a criminal act and an atrocious crime."^[27][28]

Refueling debate

One of the major issues during Fukuda's first months in office was the status of Japan's Indian Ocean refueling mission.^[29] After the 11 September attacks and the subsequent invasion of Afghanistan, the Diet passed a bill that allowed Japanese oil tankers to provide fuel for American ships involved in military operations. When Fukuda became Prime Minister he vowed to continue the mission, this despite the fact that the DPJ which opposed the authorization bill now had a majority in the upper house. After several months of debate and aborted attempts at compromise the upper house rejected the bill to continue the mission. However, the bill ultimately became law as Fukuda used the LDP's 2/3 majority in the lower house to win successful passage for the bill.^[30]

Cabinet

Fukuda's cabinet was formed on September 26, 2007.^[31] It was almost identical to Abe's.^[32] Since his administration started in September, their approval rating has continually dropped. According to Asahi Shimbun newspaper, in late April the disapproval rating of the Cabinet was 60 percent and the approval rating 25 percent.^[33] Yasuo Fukuda reshuffled his cabinet on August 1, 2008.^[34]

Secretary	Nobutaka Machimura
Internal Affairs	Hiroya Masuda
Justice	Kunio Hatoyama
Foreign Affairs	Masahiko Komura
Finance	Fukushiro Nukaga
Education	Kisaburo Tokai
Health	Yoichi Masuzoe
Agriculture	Masatoshi Wakabayashi
Economy	Akira Amari
Land	Tetsuzo Fuyushiba
Environment	Ichiro Kamoshita
Defense	Shigeru Ishiba
Public Safety, Disaster Prevention	Shinya Izumi
Economic Policy	Hiroko Ota
Financial Services, Administrative Reform	Yoshimi Watanabe
Okinawa and Northern Territories, Technology Policy, Regulatory Reform	Fumio Kishida
Population, Youth and Gender Equality	Yoko Kamikawa

Gallery

• 

  Fukuda at his fundraising party in October 2004.
• 

  Fukuda (left) and United States President George W. Bush (right) exchange handshakes following their joint statement at the White House, November 16, 2007.

• 

  Fukuda and United States President George W. Bush exchange handshakes following their first meeting at the White House.

• 

  Robert Gates meets with Yasuo Fukuda.

Decorations

In March 2008, Croatian President Stjepan Mesić presented Fukuda with the Grand Order of Queen Jelena with the Sash and the Croatian Morning Star.^[35] The decoration was given to Fukuda for his efforts in promoting friendly relations between Japan and Croatia.^[36]

See also

• Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD-IV), 2008.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yasuo Fukuda.

• Prime Minister of Japan

House of Representatives of Japan
Preceded by Takeo Fukuda Yasuhiro Nakasone Keizo Obuchi Tsuruo Yamaguchi	Representative for Gunma 3rd district 1990–1996	Constituency abolished
New constituency	Representative for Gunma 4th district 1996–present	Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Hidenao Nakagawa	Minister for Okinawa Development 2000	Succeeded by Ryutaro Hashimoto
Preceded by Hidenao Nakagawa	Chief Cabinet Secretary 2000–2004	Succeeded by Hiroyuki Hosoda
New title	Minister of State for Gender Equality and Social Affairs 2001–2004	Succeeded by Kuniko Inoguchi
Preceded by Shinzō Abe	Prime Minister of Japan 2007–2008	Succeeded by Tarō Asō
Party political offices
Preceded by Shinzō Abe	President of the Liberal Democratic Party 2007–2008	Succeeded by Tarō Asō
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Angela Merkel	Chair of the G8 2008	Succeeded by Silvio Berlusconi

Prime Ministers of Japan (List) H. Itō Kuroda Sanjō Yamagata Matsukata H. Itō Kuroda Matsukata H. Itō Ōkuma Yamagata H. Itō Saionji Katsura Saionji Katsura Saionji Katsura Yamamoto Ōkuma Terauchi Hara Uchida Takahashi To. Katō Uchida Yamamoto Kiyoura Ta. Katō Wakatsuki G. Tanaka Hamaguchi Shidehara Hamaguchi Wakatsuki Inukai Takahashi Saitō Okada Gotō Okada Hirota Hayashi Konoe Hiranuma N. Abe Yonai Konoe Tōjō Koiso K. Suzuki Higashikuni Shidehara Yoshida Katayama Ashida Yoshida I. Hatoyama Ishibashi Kishi Ikeda Satō K. Tanaka Miki T. Fukuda Ōhira M. Itō Z. Suzuki Nakasone Takeshita Uno Kaifu Miyazawa Hosokawa Hata Murayama Hashimoto Obuchi Aoki Mori Koizumi S. Abe Y. Fukuda Asō Y. Hatoyama Kan Noda S. Abe Italics denote acting Prime Ministers