Cabinet of Japan

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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.

Appointment

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:

Powers

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.

A paulownia flower pattern is routinely considered to be a symbol of the Japanese prime minister and cabinet.

Powers exercised via the Emperor

Explicit powers

Current Cabinet of Japan

The members of the current cabinet of Japan headed by the Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Shinzō Abe as of 3 August 2017 are as follows:[1]

Office Incumbent
Prime Minister Shinzō Abe
Deputy Prime Minister
Minister of Finance
Minister of State for Financial Services
Minister in charge of Overcoming Deflation
Tarō Asō
Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications
Minister of State for Women's Empowerment
Minister of State for the Social Security and Tax Number System
Seiko Noda
Minister of Justice Yōko Kamikawa
Minister of Foreign Affairs Tarō Kōno
Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
Minister in charge of Education Rebuilding
Yoshimasa Hayashi
Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare
Minister for Working-style Reform
Minister of State for the Abduction Issue
Katsunobu Katō
Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ken Saitō
Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry
Minister of State for Industrial Competitiveness
Minister for Economic Cooperation with Russia
Minister in charge of the Response to the Economic Impact caused by the Nuclear Accident
Minister of State for the Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation
Hiroshige Sekō
Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism
Minister of State for Water Cycle Policy
Keiichi Ishii
Minister of the Environment
Minister of State for Nuclear Emergency Preparedness
Masaharu Nakagawa
Minister of Defense Itsunori Onodera
Chief Cabinet Secretary
Minister in charge of Alleviating the Burden of the Bases in Okinawa
Yoshihide Suga
Minister of State for Reconstruction
Minister in charge of Comprehensive Policy Coordination for Revival from the Nuclear Accident at Fukushima
Masayoshi Yoshino
Chairperson of the National Public Safety Commission
Minister in charge of Building National Resilience
Minister of State for Disaster Management
Hachiro Okonogi
Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs
Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Food Safety
Minister of State for Ocean Policy
Minister in charge of Territorial Issues
Tetsuma Esaki
Minister for Promoting Dynamic Engagement of All Citizens
Minister in charge of Information Technology Policy
Minister of State for Measures for Declining Birthrate
Minister of State for Gender Equality
Minister of State for the Cool Japan Strategy
Minister of State for the Intellectual Property Strategy
Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy
Minister of State for Space Policy
Masaji Matsuyama
Minister in charge of Economic Revitalisation
Minister for Human Resources Development
Minister in charge of Total Reform of Social Security and Tax
Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy
Toshimitsu Motegi
Minister of State for Regional Revitalisation
Minister of State for Regulatory Reform
Minister of State for Administrative Reform
Minister of State for Civil Service Reform
Hiroshi Kajiyama
Minister of State for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games Shunichi Suzuki

See also

References

Notes

  1. "List of Ministers". Kantei.go.jp. 24 December 2014. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
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