Key events in Fukuda government
Kyodo News
Sept. 26 — Fukuda becomes prime minister and forms Cabinet.
Nov. 2 — He holds talks with Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa on forming a grand coalition.
Nov. 14 — The Upper House rejects personnel appointments for the first time in 56 years.
Nov. 16 — Fukuda meets with U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington.
Nov. 28 — Tokyo prosecutors arrest former Vice Defense Minister Takemasa Moriya.
Dec. 11 — Health minister Yoichi Masuzoe indicates the mismanagement of pension records can't be completely solved.
Dec. 28 — Fukuda meets Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Beijing.
Jan. 11 — The Lower House passes into law a bill enabling Japan's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean with the first overriding vote in 57 years, following rejection by Upper House. The Diet enacts a law to offer blanket relief to hepatitis C sufferers.
Jan. 18 — The 169th ordinary Diet session convenes.
Feb. 19 — A destroyer runs over a fishing boat off Chiba Prefecture, killing its two-man crew.
Feb. 25 — Fukuda meets with South Korean President Lee Myung Bak in Seoul.
March 19 — The Upper House rejects an appointment for Bank of Japan governor, leaving the post vacant for the first time in the postwar period.
March 27 — Fukuda proposes freeing up road tax revenues for general expenditures from fiscal 2009.
March 28 — The Diet enacts the fiscal 2008 budget.
April 1 — Provisional tax rates on gasoline and other road-related items expire, resulting in gasoline price falls.
April 9 — Masaaki Shirakawa becomes BOJ governor after serving as a deputy governor and acting BOJ chief.
April 15 — Deductions from pension benefits for the elderly begin under a new health insurance system inaugurated April 1.
April 21 — Lee Myung Bak visits Japan, holds talks with Fukuda.
April 26 — Fukuda meets Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
April 30 — A tax code bill to reinstate gasoline and other road-related surcharges clears the Diet, raising gas prices.
May 7 — Chinese President Hu Jintao visits, meets with Fukuda.
June 6 — The Diet enacts reforms of the public service system.
June 9 — Fukuda announces the "Fukuda Vision," featuring a 60 percent to 80 percent domestic greenhouse gas emissions reduction target by 2050.
June 12 — The Lower House passes a motion of confidence in Fukuda, after the Upper House did the opposite.
June 13 — Japan says North Korea expresses cooperation to reinvestigate its past abductions of Japanese nationals.
June 21 — The ordinary Diet session ends.
July 6 — Fukuda meets with Bush in Hokkaido.
July 7 to 9 — Fukuda hosts the G8 summit.
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