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.
List of Japanese prime ministers by longevity
The median age of a Prime Minister first taking office is 61 years and 2 months. This falls between Tomosaburō Katō and Keizō Obuchi. The youngest Prime Minister was the first, Hirobumi Itō, who took office at the age of 44 years, 67 days. The oldest Prime Minister to first take office was Kantarō Suzuki, who became Prime Minister at the age of 77 years, 79 days.