Japan's former prime minister Yasuo Fukuda dies at 90

Born in 1936, Fukuda grew up in a political family in Gunma, northwest of Tokyo. His father Takeo Fukuda also served as prime minister and worked to build Tokyo's ties with Beijing.

After graduating from Waseda University in Tokyo, Yasuo Fukuda worked for a Japanese oil company for more than 17 years before entering politics, first serving as his father's private secretary just before the elder Fukuda became Japan's leader in 1976.

The younger Fukuda was first elected to parliament in 1990, taking his father's former seat.

He landed his first ministerial post as chief cabinet secretary, or top spokesperson, for the gaffe-prone then-prime minister Yoshiro Mori in 2000. During that time Fukuda jokingly called himself the "secretary of explanations".

Fukuda served in a number of foreign affairs-related roles and developed a reputation as a diplomacy expert. Like his father, he placed great importance on developing friendships with Asian countries.

During his 2007-2008 prime ministership, Fukuda developed stable ties with China's Hu Jintao. 

Fukuda's rule lasted only one year as he struggled to manage a divided parliament in which his Liberal Democratic Party held a majority in only one of the two houses.

After his retirement in 2012, Fukuda devoted his time to improving Japan's relations with China during a period when their ties were disrupted by territorial disputes over a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. 

In 2014, Fukuda visited China to hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, seeking a thaw in their chilly ties, paving the way for then-prime minister Shinzo Abe's China visit to meet with Xi.

Fukuda also regularly headed political delegations to China and other Asian countries and attended international conferences. 

"Lack of dialogue increases risks of misunderstanding ... and things that do not happen under normal circumstances could happen," Fukuda said in an interview with The Associated Press in 2022.