Yasuo Fukuda was in office for less than a year after becoming prime minister on the sudden resignation of Shinzo Abe in 2007. (EPA Images pic)TOKYO: Former Japanese prime minister Yasuo Fukuda, who used his brief period in office to seek closer ties with Asian neighbours, particularly China, has died at the age of 90, the Nikkei business daily reported on Monday.
The Japanese politician, the first son of a prime minister to become premier himself, died on Thursday from heart failure, the Nikkei said.
Becoming prime minister on the sudden resignation of Shinzo Abe in 2007, Fukuda lasted less than a year -- a tenure even shorter than his father Takeo's two-year stint.
A graduate in economics from Tokyo's prestigious Waseda University, Fukuda spent nearly two decades working his way up the ranks of an oil company -- including a two-year posting in the US -- before resigning to become a political secretary when his father became premier in 1976.
