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v t e

The Cabinet of Japan (内閣, Naikaku) is the executive branch of the government of Japan. It consists of the Prime Minister, who is appointed by the Emperor after being designated by the National Diet, and up to nineteen other members, called Ministers of State. The Prime Minister is designated by the Diet, and the remaining ministers are appointed and dismissed by the Prime Minister. The Cabinet is collectively responsible to the Diet and must resign if a motion of no confidence is adopted by the Diet.

Prior to the adoption of the Meiji Constitution, Japan had in practice no written constitution. Originally, a Chinese-inspired legal system and constitution known as ritsuryō was enacted in the 6th century in the late Asuka period and early Nara period. It described a government based on an elaborate and theoretically rational meritocratic bureaucracy, serving under the ultimate authority of the emperor and organised following Chinese models. In theory the last ritsuryō code, the Yōrō Code enacted in 752, was still in force at the time of the Meiji Restoration.

Under this system, the highest organ of Japan's pre-modern Imperial government during the Heian Japan and briefly under the Meiji Constitution was the Daijō-kan (太政官), the Great Council of State. It was headed by the Daijō-daijin^[1] (太政大臣, Chancellor of the Realm). The council was replaced completely in December 1885 with the establishment of the modern cabinet system.

Under the Meiji Constitution, the Prime Minister and the cabinet were appointed by and responsible to the Emperor. Since the Constitution of Japan came into effect in 1947, the cabinet was reformed, with the Prime Minister being elected by the Diet and the cabinet being responsible to the Diet.

Under the constitution, Cabinet ministers are appointed after the selection of the Prime Minister. A majority of the Cabinet, including the Prime Minister, must be members of the Diet, and all members must be civilians. Under the Cabinet Law, the number of Cabinet Ministers (excluding the Prime Minister) must be fourteen or less, but this may be increased to nineteen if a special need arises. In the event that the Cabinet collectively resigns it continues to exercise its functions until the appointment of a new Prime Minister. While they are in office, legal action may not be taken against Cabinet ministers without the consent of the Prime Minister. The Cabinet must resign en masse in the following circumstances:

• When a motion of no confidence is adopted, or a vote of confidence defeated, by the House of Representatives, unless there is a dissolution of the house within ten days.
• Upon the first convocation of the Diet after a general election to the House of Representatives (even if every minister will then be reappointed).
• When the position Prime Minister becomes vacant, or the Prime Minister declares his intention to resign.

The Cabinet exercises two kinds of power. Some of its powers, while in practice exercised in accordance with the binding instructions of the Cabinet, are nominally exercised by the Emperor with the "advice and approval" of the Cabinet. Its other class of powers are exercised by the Cabinet explicitly. Contrary to the practice in many constitutional monarchies, the Emperor of Japan is not even the nominal Chief Executive. Instead, the Constitution explicitly vests executive authority in the Cabinet.

In practice, much of the Cabinet's authority is exercised by the Prime Minister. Under the Constitution, the Prime Minister exercises "control and supervision" over the executive branch, and no law or Cabinet order can take effect without the Prime Minister's countersignature (and the Emperor's promulgation). While Cabinet Ministers in most other parliamentary regimes theoretically have some freedom of action (within the limits of cabinet collective responsibility), the Japanese Cabinet is effectively an extension of the Prime Minister's authority.

• Promulgation of amendments to the laws, cabinet orders and treaties.
• Convocation of the Diet.
• Dissolution of the House of Representatives.
• Proclamation of general elections to the Diet.
• Receiving of foreign ambassadors and ministers.
• Conferring of honours.

• Execution of the law.
• Conduct of foreign affairs.
• Conclusion of treaties (with the consent of the Diet).
• Administration of the civil service.
• Drafting of the budget (which must be adopted by the Diet).
• Adoption of cabinet orders.
• Granting of general amnesty, special amnesty, commutation of punishment, reprieve, and restoration of rights.
• Signing of laws or cabinet orders by the relevant Minister of State and countersigned by the Prime Minister.
• Appointment of the associate justices of the Supreme Court of Japan (except for the Chief Justice, who is designated by the Prime Minister and formally appointed by the Emperor).
• Appointment of vice-ministers (who are nominated by their respective Minister to whom they will report).

The members of the current cabinet of Japan headed by the Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Shinzō Abe as of 28 January 2016 are as follows:^[2]

• List of female cabinet ministers of Japan
• Politics of Japan
• Cabinet

• The Japan Times. "Cabinet Profiles" [since 2008]. The Japan Times Online. Accessed 13 October 2012 from: http://www.japantimes.com/cabinets.htm
• Cabinet Secretariat, Office of Cabinet Public Relations, Japan (2003). Prime Minister of Japan and His Cabinet. Retrieved 28 Oct. 2003 from: http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/index-e.html
• Hunter, Janet (1984). Concise Dictionary of Modern Japanese History. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, pp. 266–324, Appendix 5: Japanese Cabinets Since the Introduction of the Cabinet System in 1885 [to 1980].

• Official Website of the Prime Minister of Japan and His Cabinet, Third Reshuffled Noda Cabinet
• List of Japanese cabinets (in Japanese only, Cabinets since 1996 in English)
• Cabinet Office
• Cabinet Secretariat (in Japanese only)
• Cabinet Legislation Bureau

v t e Cabinets of Japan
Empire of Japan (1885–1947)	Itō I Kuroda Sanjō caretaker Yamagata I Matsukata I Itō II Matsukata II Itō III Ōkuma I Yamagata II Itō IV Katsura I Saionji I Katsura II Saionji II Katsura III Yamamoto I Ōkuma II Terauchi Hara Takahashi Katō To. Yamamoto II Kiyoura Katō Ta. Wakatsuki I Tanaka G. Hamaguchi Wakatsuki II Inukai Saitō Okada Hirota Hayashi Konoe I Hiranuma N. Abe Yonai Konoe II Konoe III Tōjō Koiso K. Suzuki Higashikuni Shidehara Yoshida I
Japan (1947–present)	Katayama Ashida Yoshida II Yoshida III (R1) (R2) (R3) Yoshida IV Yoshida V I. Hatoyama I I. Hatoyama II I. Hatoyama III Ishibashi Kishi I (R) Kishi II (R) Ikeda I Ikeda II (R1) (R2) (R3) Ikeda III (R) Satō I (R1) (R2) (R3) Satō II (R1) (R2) Satō III (R) K. Tanaka I K. Tanaka II (R1) (R2) Miki (R) T. Fukuda (R) Ōhira I Ōhira II Z. Suzuki (R) Nakasone I Nakasone II (R1) (R2) Nakasone III Takeshita (R) Uno Kaifu I Kaifu II (R) Miyazawa (R) Hosokawa Hata Murayama (R) Hashimoto I Hashimoto II (R) Obuchi (R1) (R2) Mori I Mori II (R Before 2001 CGR) (R After 2001 CGR) Koizumi I (R1) (R2) Koizumi II (R) Koizumi III (R) S. Abe I (R) Y. Fukuda (R) Asō Y. Hatoyama Kan (R1) (R2) Noda (R1) (R2) (R3) S. Abe II (R) S. Abe III (R1) (R2) (R3) S. Abe IV (R1) (R2) Suga Kishida I Kishida II R1 R2
Current cabinet