Minister of Justice
Emblem of the Government of Japan
Incumbent
Ryuji Koizumi
since 13 September 2023
Ministry of Justice
StyleHis Excellency
Member ofCabinet of Japan
Reports toPrime Minister of Japan
AppointerPrime Minister of Japan
attested to by the Emperor
FormationAugust 1, 1952; 71 years ago (1952-08-01)
DeputyState Minister of Justice
Salary¥20,916,000

The Minister of Justice (法務大臣, Houmu Daijin) is a member of the Cabinet of Japan and is the leader and chief executive of the Ministry of Justice. The minister is nominated by the Prime Minister of Japan and is appointed by the Emperor of Japan.

The current minister is Ryuji Koizumi, who took office on 13 September 2023.

Powers

By law, the Minister of Justice is authorized to order executions of any inmate on death row at anytime, making the position highly influential. The Minister is also authorized to deport or grant any foreigner residential or permanent visas.

List of ministers of justice

1952–2000

  Independent   Liberal Democratic   Japan Renewal   Democratic Socialist

Justice minister Term of office Prime minister
# Portrait Name Took office Left office Days
1 Tokutaro Kimura August 1, 1952 October 30, 1952 90 Shigeru Yoshida
2 Takeru Inukai October 30, 1952 April 22, 1954 539
3 Ryogo Kato April 22, 1954 June 19, 1954 58
4 Naoshi Ohara June 19, 1954 December 10, 1954 174
5 Shiro Hamamura December 10, 1954 November 22, 1955 347 Ichirō Hatoyama
6 Ryozo Makino November 22, 1955 December 23, 1956 397
7 Umekichi Nakamura December 23, 1956 July 10, 1957 199 Tanzan Ishibashi
Nobusuke Kishi
8 Toshiki Karasa July 10, 1957 June 12, 1958 337
9 Kiichi Aichi June 12, 1958 June 18, 1959 371
10 Hiroya Ino June 18, 1959 July 19, 1960 397
11 Tetsuzo Kojima July 19, 1960 December 8, 1960 142 Hayato Ikeda
12 Koshiro Ueki December 8, 1960 July 18, 1962 587
13 Kunio Nakagaki July 18, 1962 July 18, 1963 365
14 Okinori Kaya July 18, 1963 July 18, 1964 366
15 Hitoshi Takahashi July 18, 1964 June 3, 1965 320
Eisaku Satō
16 Mitsujirō Ishii June 3, 1965 December 3, 1966 548
17 Isaji Tanaka December 3, 1966 November 25, 1967 357
18 Bunzo Akama November 25, 1967 November 30, 1968 371
19 Kichinosuke Saigo November 30, 1968 January 14, 1970 410
20 Takeji Kobayashi January 14, 1970 February 9, 1971 391
21 Daisuke Akita February 9, 1971 February 17, 1971 8
22

(12)

Koshiro Ueki February 17, 1971 July 5, 1971 138
23 Shigesaburō Maeo July 5, 1971 July 7, 1972 368
24 Yuichi Kori July 7, 1972 December 22, 1972 168 Kakuei Tanaka
25 Isaji Tanaka December 22, 1972 November 25, 1973 338
26 Umekichi Nakamura November 25, 1973 November 11, 1974 351
27 Seigo Hamano November 11, 1974 December 9, 1974 28
28 Osamu Inaba December 9, 1974 December 24, 1976 746 Takeo Miki
29 Hajime Fukuda December 24, 1976 October 5, 1977 285 Takeo Fukuda
30 Mitsuo Setayama October 5, 1977 December 7, 1978 428
31 Yoshimi Furui December 7, 1978 November 9, 1979 337 Masayoshi Ōhira
32 Tadao Kuraishi November 9, 1979 July 17, 1980 251
33 Seisuke Okuno July 17, 1980 November 30, 1980 502 Zenkō Suzuki
34 Michita Sakata November 30, 1980 November 27, 1982 727
35 Hatano Akira November 27, 1982 December 27, 1983 395 Yasuhiro Nakasone
36 Eisaku Sumi December 27, 1983 November 1, 1984 310
37 Hitoshi Shimazaki November 1, 1984 December 28, 1985 422
38 Seigo Suzuki December 28, 1985 July 22, 1986 206
39 Kaname Endo July 22, 1986 November 6, 1987 472
40 Yukio Hasegawa November 6, 1987 December 27, 1988 416 Noboru Takeshita
41 Takashi Hasegawa December 27, 1998 December 30, 1998 3
42 Masami Takatsuji December 30, 1998 June 3 1989 185
43 Kazuo Tanikawa June 3 1989 August 10, 1989 38 Sōsuke Uno
44 Masao Goto August 10, 1989 February 28, 1990 202 Toshiki Kaifu
45 Shin Hasegawa February 28, 1990 September 13, 1990 197
46 Seiroku Kajiyama September 13, 1990 December 29, 1990 107
47 Megumi Sato December 29, 1990 November 5, 1991 676
48 Takashi Tawara November 5, 1991 December 12, 1992 403 Kiichi Miyazawa
49 Masaharu Gotōda December 12, 1992 August 9, 1993 240
50 Akira Mikazuki August 9, 1993 April 28, 1994 262 Morihiro Hosokawa
52 Nagano Shigeto April 28, 1994 May 8, 1994 10 Tsutomu Hata
53 Hiroshi Nakai May 8, 1994 June 30, 1994 53
54 Isao Maeda June 30, 1994 August 8, 1995 404 Tomiichi Murayama
55 Tomoharu Tazawa August 8, 1995 October 8, 1995 61
56 Hiroshi Miyazawa October 8, 1995 January 11, 1996 95
57 Ritsuko Nagao January 11, 1996 November 7, 1996 301 Ryutaro Hashimoto
58 Isao Matsuura November 7, 1996 September 11, 1997 308
59 Kokichi Shimoinaba September 11, 1997 July 30, 1998 322
60 Shozaburo Nakamura July 30, 1998 March 8, 1999 221 Keizō Obuchi
61 Takao Jinnouchi March 8, 1999 October 5, 1999 211
62 Hideo Usui October 5, 1999 July 4, 2000 273
Yoshirō Mori
63 Okiharu Yasuoka July 4, 2000 December 5, 2000 154
64 Masahiko Komura December 5, 2000 January 6, 2001 32

2001–present

  Liberal Democratic
  Democratic

Justice minister Term of office Prime minister
# Portrait Name Took office Left office Days
65

(64)

Masahiko Kōmura January 6, 2001 April 26, 2001 110 Yoshirō Mori
66 Mayumi Moriyama April 26, 2001 September 22, 2003 879 Junichiro Koizumi
67 Daizō Nozawa September 22, 2003 September 27, 2004 371
68 Chieko Nōno September 27, 2004 October 31, 2005 399
69 Seiken Sugiura October 31, 2005 September 26, 2006 330
70 Jinen Nagase September 26, 2006 August 27, 2007 335 Shinzō Abe
71 Kunio Hatoyama August 27, 2007 August 2, 2008 341
Yasuo Fukuda
72 Okiharu Yasuoka August 2, 2008 September 24, 2008 53
73 Eisuke Mori September 24, 2008 September 16, 2009 357 Taro Aso
74 Keiko Chiba September 16, 2009 September 7, 2010 356 Yukio Hatoyama
Naoto Kan
75 Minoru Yanagida September 7, 2010 November 22, 2010 76
76 Yoshito Sengoku November 22, 2010 January 14, 2011 53
77 Satsuki Eda January 14, 2011 September 2, 2011 231
78 Hideo Hiraoka September 2, 2011 January 13, 2012 133 Yoshihiko Noda
79 Toshio Ogawa January 13, 2012 June 4, 2012 143
16 Makoto Taki June 4, 2012 October 1, 2012 119
17 Keishu Tanaka October 1, 2012 October 23, 2012 22
18
(16) 		Makoto Taki October 23, 2012 December 26, 2012 64
19 Sadakazu Tanigaki December 26, 2012 September 3, 2014 616 Shinzō Abe
20 Midori Matsushima September 3, 2014 October 20, 2014 47
21 Yōko Kamikawa October 20, 2014 October 7, 2015 352
22 Mitsuhide Iwaki October 7, 2015 August 3, 2016 301
23 Katsutoshi Kaneda August 3, 2016 August 3, 2017 365
24
(21) 		Yōko Kamikawa August 3, 2017 October 2, 2018 425
25 Takashi Yamashita October 2, 2018 September 11, 2019 344
26 Katsuyuki Kawai September 11, 2019 October 31, 2019 50
27 Masako Mori October 31, 2019 September 16, 2020 321
28
(21) 		Yōko Kamikawa September 16, 2020 October 4, 2021 383 Yoshihide Suga
29 Yoshihisa Furukawa October 4, 2021 10 August 2022 310 Fumio Kishida
30 Yasuhiro Hanashi 10 August 2022 11 November 2022 93
31 Ken Saitō November 11, 2022 September 13, 2023 306
32 Ryuji Koizumi September 13, 2023 Incumbent 136

References



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