Yasuo Fukuda
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.
Yukihiko Ikeda
Ikeda's second tenure as foreign minister was from 11 January 1996 to 11 September 1997 in the coalition government headed by the LDP politician Ryutaro Hashimoto. Ikeda replaced Yōhei Kōno as foreign minister. Upon the construction of a wharf facility in Takeshima/Dokdo by the South Korean government at the beginning of 1996, Ikeda protested over the construction and demanded that the South Korean government should stop it. His remarks led to angry public demonstrations in Seoul. He led Japan's attempts to solve the hostage crisis in Peru in the 1990s. Ikeda was replaced by Keizō Obuchi as foreign minister on 11 September 1997.