Takeo Fukuda (福田 赳夫, Fukuda Takeo?, January 14, 1905 – July 5, 1995) was a Japanese politician and the 42d Prime Minister of Japan (67th administration) from December 24, 1976 to December 7, 1978.
He was born in Gunma Prefecture and attended Tokyo Imperial University. Before and during World War II, he served as a bureaucrat in the Finance Ministry and as Chief Cabinet Secretary. After the war, he directed Japan's general accounting office.
In 1952, Fukuda was elected to the House of Representatives representing the third district of Gunma. He was elected party secretary in 1957 and served as Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (1959–69), Minister of Finance (1969–71), Minister of Foreign Affairs (1971–73), and Director of the Economic Planning Agency (1974–76). He was a candidate for prime minister in 1972 but lost to Kakuei Tanaka.
He took over the presidency of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from Takeo Miki after the party's poor showing in the 1976 election. It remained in office, but relied on the support of minor parties to maintain a parliamentary majority. Although he was regarded as a conservative and a hawk on foreign policies, Fukuda drew international criticism when he caved in to the demands of a group of terrorists who hijacked Japan Airlines Flight 472, saying "Jinmei wa chikyû yori omoi (The value of a human life outweighs the Earth)."
Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, KG, PC (27 March 1912 – 26 March 2005), was a British Labour politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980. Commonly known as Jim Callaghan (and nicknamed "Sunny Jim", "Gentleman Jim", "Lucky Jim" or "Big Jim"), Callaghan is the only person to have served in all four of the Great Offices of State: Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary.
Callaghan was Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1964 to 1967 during a turbulent period in the British economy in which he had to wrestle with a balance of payments deficit and speculative attacks on the pound sterling. In November 1967, the Government was forced to devalue the pound sterling despite having already denied this would be done, both publicly and to the House of Commons. Callaghan offered to resign, but was persuaded to swap his ministerial post with Roy Jenkins, becoming Home Secretary from 1967 to 1970. In that capacity, Callaghan took the decision to use the Army to support the police in Northern Ireland, after a request from the Northern Ireland Government.
Takeo Fukui (福井 威夫, Fukui Takeo?, born November 28, 1944) is the former president and CEO of Honda Motor Co., Ltd.. He is from Tokyo, Japan, though his mother gave birth to him in Hiroshima to escape intensifying air raids during World War II. He graduated from Waseda University with a Bachelor's degree in Applied Chemistry. He began working at Honda in April 1969.
Fukui worked on the CVCC (Compound Vortex Controlled Combustion) engine as his first project at Honda to reduce toxic exhaust emissions. The CVCC, which became the base for the Honda Civic car, became the first vehicle to comply with the 1975 U.S. Clean Air Act without a catalytic converter. A motorsports fan, he joined Honda for its participation in the Formula One races. He is married to Eyni Gaal and together they have 8 children.
Yasuo Fukuda (福田 康夫, Fukuda Yasuo?, born 16 July 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.
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 1 September 2008, Fukuda announced his resignation, triggering another LDP leadership election. Although Japan hosted the G8 summit meeting without mishap during Fukuda's time in office, Fukuda himself earned little or no credit from ordinary Japanese, and when he resigned, he became the first of the G8 leaders to leave office.
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.