Ōkubo Toshimichi
Asō, a Catholic, was born in Iizuka in Fukuoka Prefecture on 20 September 1940. His father, Takakichi Asō, was the chairman of the Aso Cement Company and a close associate of Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka; his mother Kazuko Asō was Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida's daughter. Tarō is also a great-great-grandson of Ōkubo Toshimichi, and his wife, Chikako, is the third daughter of Prime Minister Zenkō Suzuki. His younger sister, Nobuko, Princess Tomohito of Mikasa, is a cousin-in-law of Emperor Emeritus Akihito.