Japanese cabinet

A paulownia flower is considered a symbol of the Japanese Prime Minister and Cabinet.

The Japanese cabinet ( Japanese 内閣 , Naikaku ) is the government of the Japanese central state. It consists of the Prime Minister of Japan and up to 17, currently 19, other members, all of whom are known as Minister of State ( 国務 大臣 , kokumu daijin ). The Prime Minister is appointed by the Japanese Parliament , the other ministers are appointed and recalled by the Prime Minister. The cabinet as a whole is accountable to Parliament.

Prime Minister Shinzō Abe's fourth cabinet is currently in power . It came into office after the general election on October 22, 2017 and the subsequent prime ministerial election in parliament on November 1, 2017 ( the emperor's appointment ceremony on the same day).

The modern Japanese cabinet is based on Articles 65 to 75 of the Japanese Constitution of 1947. However, a cabinet already existed under the constitution of the Japanese Empire , which came into force in 1890 , which neither explicitly mentions neither cabinet nor prime minister and only refers to every minister of state in Article 55 Dedicated to advising the emperor, and without a constitution since 1885, when the old Dajōkan government system was abandoned. The ministers were individually accountable to the Emperor of Japan . Formal legal regulations for the Prime Minister and Cabinet in the German Empire contained two decrees from the years 1885 ( naikaku shokken , 内閣 職 権 , Dajōkan decree No. 69) and 1889 ( naikaku kansei , 内閣 官制 , k. Decree No. 135).

vocation

According to the constitution, the ministers of state are appointed by the prime minister after he has elected. The prime minister is elected by parliament and then appointed by the emperor. If the lower house and upper house elect different candidates, the will of the lower house takes precedence after an unsuccessful mediation in the mediation committee (Article 67 of the constitution).

A majority in the cabinet, including the prime minister, must be a member of one of the two chambers of parliament. All members must be civilians. Under Article 2 of the Cabinet Act of 2001, the number of ministers of state (other than the prime minister) must be 14 or less; in “special cases” (which in fact mostly exist) the number can be increased to 17. In addition to this limitation, there has been a reconstruction minister for the temporary reconstruction authority since 2012, and since 2015 an additional minister for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games through a separate law. During their term of office, cabinet members enjoy legal immunity as long as the prime minister is subject to legal prosecution does not agree in individual cases.

The cabinet must resign under the following conditions:

• at the first convocation of parliament after general elections to the lower house,
• in the event of a vote of no confidence or a defeat in a vote of confidence in the House of Commons if the cabinet does not dissolve it within ten days of the vote,
• if the Prime Minister is permanently prevented from exercising his office.

In these cases, or if the cabinet resigns of its own free will, parliament appoints a new prime minister, who then appoints new ministers, even if the new cabinet, including the prime minister, may consist of the same persons as before. The resigned cabinet continues to serve until the emperor appoints a prime minister newly elected by parliament. Usually the appointment ceremonies for the Prime Minister (shinninshiki) and the other ministers (shōninkan ninmeishiki) take place one after the other; if the ministers appointed by the new prime minister are not appointed immediately, the new prime minister as a so-called "one-person cabinet" ( hitori naikaku , 一 人 内閣 ) initially holds all ministerial posts (e.g. Katayama 1947, Hata 1994).

Powers

The cabinet has two types of powers. State tasks ( kokuji kōi , Article 7 of the constitution) of the emperor can only "on the recommendation and with the consent of the cabinet, in the interest of the people" (naikaku no jogen to shōnin ni yori, kokumin no tame ni,) exercise, he has other than some monarchs do not have reserve powers, even in exceptional cases.

The cabinet itself exercises other powers. Contrary to the practice in many constitutional monarchies , the Emperor of Japan is not the nominal head of the executive branch in the state. According to the constitution, this function is exercised by the cabinet.

Duties of the emperor at the behest of the cabinet

• Convocation of Parliament.
• Dissolution of the lower house (without a previous vote of no confidence [Article 69], undisputedly only under the prevailing constitutional interpretation of Article 7 since the end of the occupation).
• Calling general parliamentary elections ( Kokkai giin no sō -zunyo , "general election of members of parliament", is in Article 7 of the Constitution, but does not exist in the form; there are general elections to the lower house and ordinary upper house [part] elections, the wording includes both).
• Awarding of honors.

Cabinet's own powers

These result from Articles 72 and 73 of the Constitution.

• Execution of the Laws.
• Exercise of external relations.
• Conclusion of international agreements with the consent of Parliament.
• Head of civil administration.
• Draft budget (which then has to be approved by parliament).
• Adoption of ordinances.
• Granting general amnesty , special amnesty, conversion of punishments, suspension of sentences and restitution to civil rights.

Every ordinance and every law is signed by the relevant Minister of State and countersigned by the Prime Minister.

Historical cabinets

Empire of Japan

Note: Formally, cabinets in the Empire were responsible to the Tennō and thus not tied to parliamentary majorities, and thus not to government parties in the true sense of the word. In the list, however, the parties supporting the government may be indicated for orientation, especially since approaches of parliamentary responsibility of the cabinet developed during the so-called Taishō democracy .

#	cabinet	Taking office	prime minister	Ruling parties	General Elections
1	Itō I	Dec 22, 1885	Itō Hirobumi	- ( Hanbatsu Naikaku , " Klansabinett ")
2	Kuroda	Apr 30, 1888	Kuroda Kiyotaka	-
-	(executive)	Oct 25, 1889	Sanjō Sanetomi	-
3	Yamagata I	Dec. 24, 1889	Yamagata Aritomo	- ( Hanbatsu Naikaku , " Klansabinett ")	1.
4th	Matsukata I	0May 6, 1891	Matsukata Masayoshi	- ( Hanbatsu Naikaku , " Klansabinett ")	2.
5	Itō II	0Aug 8, 1892	Itō Hirobumi Kuroda Kiyotaka (executive)	- ( Hanbatsu Naikaku , " Klansabinett ") after the war with China, cooperation with the Liberal Party	3rd , 4th
6th	Matsukata II	Sep 18 1896	Matsukata Masayoshi	- ( Hanbatsu Naikaku , " Klansabinett ") cooperation with the Progressive Party ( Shimpotō )	5.
7th	Itō III	Jan. 12, 1898	Itō Hirobumi	- ( Hanbatsu Naikaku , " Klansabinett ")
8th	Ōkuma I	June 30, 1898	Ōkuma Shigenobu	Kenseitō	6th
9	Yamagata II	0Nov 8, 1898	Yamagata Aritomo	- ( Hanbatsu Naikaku , " Klansabinett ") collaboration with the Kenseitō
10	Itō IV	Oct. 19, 1900	Itō Hirobumi Saionji Kimmochi (executive)	Rikken Seiyūkai
11	Katsura I	0June 2, 1901	Katsura Taro	- ( Kanryō Naikaku , "Cabinet of Officials")	7th , 8th , 9th
12	Saionji I	0Jan. 7, 1906	Saionji Kimmochi	Rikken Seiyūkai	10.
13	Katsura II	July 14, 1908	Katsura Taro	Rikken Seiyūkai ( Kanryō Naikaku , "Cabinet of Officials")
14th	Saionji II	Aug 30, 1911	Saionji Kimmochi	Rikken Seiyūkai	11.
15th	Katsura III	Dec 21, 1912	Katsura Taro	- ( Kanryō Naikaku , "Cabinet of Officials")
16	Yamamoto I	Feb. 20, 1913	Yamamoto Gonnohyōe	Rikken Seiyūkai
17th	Ōkuma II	April 16, 1914	Ōkuma Shigenobu	Rikken Dōshikai , Chūseikai , Ōkuma Hakukōenkai	12.
18th	Terauchi	0Oct 9, 1916	Terauchi Masatake	Rikken Seiyūkai	13.
19th	Hara	29 Sep 1918	Hara Takashi Uchida Kōsai (executive)	Rikken Seiyūkai	14th
20th	Takahashi	Nov 13, 1921	Takahashi Korekiyo	Rikken Seiyūkai
21st	Kato	June 12, 1922	Katō Tomosaburō Uchida Kōsai (executive)	- (Officials, Kizokuin ) Working with Rikken Seiyūkai
22nd	Yamamoto II	0Sep 2 1923	Yamamoto Gonnohyōe	Kakushin Club
23	Kiyoura	0Jan. 7, 1924	Kiyoura Keigo	- (Officials, Kizokuin) Working with Rikken Seiyūkai	15th
24	Kato	June 11, 1924	Katō Takaaki Wakatsuki Reijirō (executive)	Kenseikai , Rikken Seiyūkai, Kakushin Club ( Goken Sampa )
25th	Wakatsuki I	Jan. 30, 1926	Wakatsuki Reijirō	Kenseikai
26th	Tanaka	Apr 20, 1927	Tanaka Giichi	Rikken Seiyūkai	16.
27	Hamaguchi	0July 2, 1929	Hamaguchi Osachi Shidehara Kijūrō (executive)	Rikken Minseitō	17th
28	Wakatsuki II	Apr 14, 1931	Wakatsuki Reijirō	Rikken Minseitō
29	Inukai	Dec 13, 1931	Inukai Tsuyoshi Takahashi Korekiyo (executive)	Rikken Seiyūkai	18th
30th	Saitō	May 26, 1932	Saitō Makoto	- ("Cabinet of National Unity")
31	Okada	0July 8, 1934	Okada Keisuke Gotō Fumio (executive)	- ("Cabinet of national unity": officials, Rikken Minseitō, Shōwakai and others.)	19th
32	Hirota	09 Mar 1936	Hirota Kōki	- (“Cabinet of National Unity”) Rikken Minseitō, Shōwa Kenkyūkai u. a.
33	Hayashi	0Feb. 2, 1937	Hayashi Senjūrō	- ("Cabinet of National Unity": civil servants, military)	20th
34	Konoe I.	0June 4, 1937	Konoe Fumimaro	- ("Cabinet of National Unity": Kizokuin, officials)
35	Hiranuma	0Jan. 5, 1939	Hiranuma Kiichirō	- ("Cabinet of National Unity": civil servants, military)
36	Abe	Aug 30, 1939	Abe Nobuyuki	- ("Cabinet of National Unity": Kizokuin, military)
37	Yonai	Jan. 16, 1940	Yonai Mitsumasa	- ("Cabinet of National Unity": civil servants, military)
38	Konoe II	July 22, 1940	Konoe Fumimaro	- ("Cabinet of National Unity": Taisei Yokusankai )
39	Konoe III	July 18, 1941		- ("Cabinet of National Unity": Taisei Yokusankai)
40	Tōjō	Oct 18, 1941	Tōjō Hideki	- ("Cabinet of National Unity": Taisei Yokusankai)	21st
41	Koiso	July 22, 1944	Koiso Kuniaki	- ("Cabinet of National Unity": Taisei Yokusankai)
42	Suzuki	0July 7, 1945	Suzuki Kantaro	- ("Cabinet of National Unity": Taisei Yokusankai)
43	Higashikuni	Aug 17, 1945	Higashikuni Naruhiko	- ("Cabinet of National Unity": Kizokuin) under Allied occupation
44	Shidehara	0Oct 9, 1945	Shidehara Kijūrō	Progressive Party of Japan , Liberal Party of Japan under Allied occupation	22nd
45	Yoshida I	May 22, 1946	Yoshida Shigeru	Liberal Party of Japan, Progressive Party of Japan under Allied occupation	23. House of Lords: 1.

State of Japan

#	cabinet		Taking office	prime minister	Ruling parties	Parliamentary elections
						House of Commons	House of Lords
46	Katayama		May 24, 1947	Katayama Tetsu	Socialist Party of Japan , Democratic Party , Kokumin-kyōdō-tō under Allied occupation
47	Ashida		10 Mar 1948	Ashida Hitoshi	Democratic Party, Socialist Party of Japan, Kokumin-kyōdō-tō under Allied occupation
48	Yoshida II		Oct 15, 1948	Yoshida Shigeru	Democratic-Liberal Party under Allied occupation	24.
49	Yoshida III		Feb 16, 1949		Democratic-Liberal Party, Democratic Party → Liberal Party under Allied occupation until April 28, 1952		2.
		1. Reshuffle	June 28, 1950
		2. Reshuffle	04th July 1951
		3. Reshuffle	Dec 26, 1951			25th
50	Yoshida IV		Oct. 30, 1952		Liberal Party	26th	3.
51	Yoshida V		May 21, 1953		Liberal party collaboration with the Kaishinto
52	Hatoyama I		Dec 10, 1954	Hatoyama Ichirō	Democratic Party of Japan	27.
53	Hatoyama II		19 Mar 1955		Democratic Party of Japan
54	Hatoyama III		Nov 22, 1955		Liberal Democratic Party		4th
55	Ishibashi		23 Dec 1956	Ishibashi Tanzan Kishi Nobusuke (executive)	Liberal Democratic Party
56	Kishi I		Feb 25, 1957	Kishi Nobusuke	Liberal Democratic Party
		Reshuffle	July 10, 1957			28.
57	Kishi II		June 12, 1958		Liberal Democratic Party		5.
		Reshuffle	June 18, 1959
58	Ikeda I		July 19, 1960	Ikeda Hayato	Liberal Democratic Party	29
59	Ikeda II		0Dec 8, 1960		Liberal Democratic Party
		1. Reshuffle	July 18, 1961				6th
		2. Reshuffle	July 18, 1962
		3. Reshuffle	July 18, 1963		Liberal Democratic Party	30th
60	Ikeda III		0Dec 9, 1963		Liberal Democratic Party
		Reshuffle	July 18, 1964
61	Satō I		0Nov 9, 1964	Satō Eisaku	Liberal Democratic Party
		1. Reshuffle	0June 3, 1965		Liberal Democratic Party		7th
		2. Reshuffle	0Aug 1, 1966
		3. Reshuffle	0Dec 3, 1966			31.
62	Satō II		Feb. 17, 1967		Liberal Democratic Party
		1. Reshuffle	Nov 25, 1967				8th.
		2. Reshuffle	Nov. 30, 1968			32.
63	Satō III		Jan. 14, 1970		Liberal Democratic Party		9.
		Reshuffle	0July 9, 1971
64	Tanaka I		0July 7, 1972	Tanaka Kakuei	Liberal Democratic Party	33.
65	Tanaka II		Dec 22, 1972		Liberal Democratic Party
		1. Reshuffle	Nov 25, 1973				10.
		2. Reshuffle	Nov 11, 1974
66	Miki		0Dec 9, 1974	Miki Takeo	Liberal Democratic Party
		Reshuffle	Sep 15 1976			34.
67	Fukuda		Dec. 24, 1976	Fukuda Takeo	Liberal Democratic Party		11.
		Reshuffle	Nov 28, 1977
68	Ōhira I		07th Dec 1978	Ōhira Masayoshi Itō Masayoshi (executive)	Liberal Democratic Party	35.
69	Ōhira II		0Nov 9, 1979		Liberal Democratic Party cooperation with the New Liberal Club	36.	12.
70	Suzuki		17th July 1980	Suzuki Zenko	Liberal Democratic Party
		Reshuffle	Nov. 30, 1981
71	Nakasone I		Nov. 27, 1982	Nakasone Yasuhiro	Liberal Democratic Party	37.	13.
72	Nakasone II		Dec. 27, 1983		Liberal Democratic Party, New Liberal Club
		1. Reshuffle	0Nov 1, 1984
		2. Reshuffle	Dec 28, 1985			38.	14th
73	Nakasone III		July 22, 1986		Liberal Democratic Party
74	Takeshita		0Nov 6, 1987	Takeshita Noboru	Liberal Democratic Party
		Reshuffle	Dec. 27, 1988
75	U.N		0June 3, 1989	Uno Sōsuke	Liberal Democratic Party		15th
76	Kaifu I		Aug 10, 1989	Kaifu Toshiki	Liberal Democratic Party	39.
77	Kaifu II		Feb 28, 1990		Liberal Democratic Party
		Reshuffle	Dec 29, 1990
78	Miyazawa		0Nov 5, 1991	Miyazawa Kiichi	Liberal Democratic Party		16.
		Reshuffle	Dec 12, 1992			40.
79	Hosokawa		0Aug 9, 1993	Hosokawa Morihiro	New Japan Party , Socialist Party of Japan, Renewal Party , Kōmeitō , Democratic Socialist Party , New Sakigake Party , "Social Democratic League" , "Democratic Reform Association"
80	Hata		Apr 28, 1994	Hata Tsutomu	Renewal Party, New Japan Party, Democratic Socialist Party, Liberal Party , Kōmeitō, “Social Democratic League”, “Reform Assembly”, cooperation with the New Sakigake Party
81	Murayama		June 30, 1994	Murayama Tomiichi	Socialist Party of Japan, Liberal Democratic Party, New Sakigake Party		17th
		Reshuffle	0Aug 8, 1995
82	Hashimoto I		Jan. 11, 1996	Hashimoto Ryūtaro	Liberal Democratic Party, Social Democratic Party , New Sakigake Party	41.
83	Hashimoto II		0Nov 7, 1996		Liberal Democratic Party Cooperation with Social Democratic Party, New Sakigake Party
		Reshuffle	Sep 11 1997				18th
84	Obuchi		July 30, 1998	Obuchi Keizō Aoki Mikio (executive)	Liberal Democratic Party
		1. Reshuffle	Jan. 14, 1999		Liberal Democratic Party, Liberal Party
		2. Reshuffle	0Oct 5, 1999		Liberal Democratic Party, Liberal Party, Kōmeitō Cooperation with the "Reform Club"
85	Mori I		0Apr 5, 2000	Mori Yoshirō	Liberal Democratic Party, Kōmeitō, Conservative Party Cooperation with the "Reform Club"	42.
86	Mori II		04th July 2000		Liberal Democratic Party, Kōmeitō, Conservative Party
		Reshuffle	0Dec 5, 2000
87	Koizumi I		Apr 26, 2001	Koizumi Jun'ichirō	Liberal Democratic Party, Kōmeitō, Conservative Party		19th
		1. Reshuffle	Sep 30 2002
		2. Reshuffle	22 Sep 2003		Liberal Democratic Party, Kōmeitō, New Conservative Party	43.
88	Koizumi II		Nov 19, 2003		Liberal Democratic Party, Kōmeitō		20th
		Reshuffle	27 Sep 2004			44.
89	Koizumi III		21 Sep 2005		Liberal Democratic Party, Kōmeitō
		Reshuffle	Oct 31, 2005
90	Abe I		26 Sep 2006	Abe Shinzo	Liberal Democratic Party, Kōmeitō		21st
		Reshuffle	Aug 27, 2007
91	Fukuda		26 Sep 2007	Fukuda Yasuo	Liberal Democratic Party, Kōmeitō
		Reshuffle	0Aug 2, 2008
92	Asō		Sep 24 2008	Asō Tarō	Liberal Democratic Party, Kōmeitō cooperation with the "Reform Club"	45.
93	Hatoyama		16 Sep 2009	Hatoyama Yukio	Democratic Party , Social Democratic Party (until May 2010), New People's Party Cooperation with the New Japan Party and the New Daichi Party
94	Can		0June 8, 2010	Kan Naoto	Democratic Party, New People's Party Cooperation with the New Japan Party and the New Daichi Party		22nd
		1. Reshuffle	17 Sep 2010
		2. Reshuffle	Jan. 14, 2011
95	Noda		0Sep 2 2011	Noda Yoshihiko	Democratic Party, New People's Party Cooperation with the New Japan Party (until April 2012) and the New Daichi Party
		1. Reshuffle	Jan. 13, 2012
		2. Reshuffle	04th June 2012
		3. Reshuffle	0Oct. 1, 2012			46.
96	Abe II		Dec 26, 2012	Abe Shinzo	Liberal Democratic Party, Kōmeitō		23.
		Reshuffle	03rd Sep 2014			47.
97	Abe III		Dec 24, 2014		Liberal Democratic Party, Kōmeitō Temporary collaboration with Nippon no Kokoro and New Daichi Party
		1. Reshuffle	0Oct 7, 2015				24.
		2. Reshuffle	0Aug 3, 2016
		3. Reshuffle	03rd Aug 2017			48.
98	Abe IV		0Nov 1, 2017		Liberal Democratic Party, Kōmeitō collaboration with Nippon no Kokoro until accession
		1. Reshuffle	0Oct 2, 2018				25th
		2. Reshuffle	Sep 11 2019

swell

• Kantei , Japanese Cabinet: 歴 代 内閣 (Japanese; Cabinets from 1996 also English , from 2007 Chinese )

Web links

• Official website of the Prime Minister of Japan and his Cabinet
• UC Irvine Center for the Study of Democracy: Japanese Cabinet Profiles (English, cabinet profiles since 2001)
• List of Japanese Cabinets (Japanese)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kantei : Cabinet System of Japan (English)