Higashikuni cabinet

Higashikuni cabinet (from left to right; front row: Higashikuni, Shigemitsu, Yonai, Nakajima, Konoe, Iwata; back row: Matsumura, Sengoku, Yamazaki, Tsushima, Kohiyama, Ogata; far back: Murase Naokai, head of the legislative office )

The Higashikuni cabinet ruled Japan under Prime Minister Higashikuni Naruhiko from August 17, 1945 until his resignation on October 9, 1945. Two days after the surrender of Japan on August 15, 1945, which marked the end of the Pacific War , the last war cabinet of Suzuki Kantaro resigned . The Shōwa-Tennō Hirohito entrusted the prince Higashikuni Naruhiko with the governance. The most important tasks of the cabinet were the repatriation of the troops remaining overseas and the demobilization of the Imperial Japanese Army . With the beginning of the Allied occupation , it also had to implement the orders of the occupation administration ( SCAP / GHQ ), which initiated the liberalization and democratization of Japan, with Higashikuni trying to prevent the institution of the Tennō itself from being tampered with. The "Freedom Directive" of SCAP Douglas MacArthur of October 4, 1945, which should lift the restrictions on freedom of expression, association and religion and should dissolve the Tokkō and the Ministry of the Interior , led to the resignation of the Higashikuni cabinet, which these demands went too far.

The cabinet consisted of eight ministers of state from the aristocratic Kizokuin (manor) and two from the bourgeois Shūgiin (lower house), including the prime minister, when he took office .

Minister of State

Higashikuni Cabinet - from August 17 to October 9, 1945
Restructuring of the central government on August 26, 1945

Office until August 26th	Office from August 26th	Surname	chamber	fraction
prime minister		Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko	Kizokuin	-
Foreign minister		Shigemitsu Mamoru until September 17th Yoshida Shigeru from September 17th	Kizokuin -	- -
Interior minister		Yamazaki Iwao	-	-
Finance minister		Tsushima Juichi	Kizokuin	Kenkyūkai
Army Minister		Higashikuni Naruhiko until August 23rd Shimomura Sadamu from August 23rd	Kizokuin -	- -
Naval Minister		Yonai Mitsumasa	-	-
Minister of Justice		Iwata Chūzō	Kizokuin	Dōwakai
Minister of Education		Matsumura Kenzō until August 18th Maeda Tamon from August 18th	Shugiin House of Peers	Dainihon Seijikai Dōseikai
Minister of Agriculture and Industry	Minister for Agriculture and Forests	Sengoku Kōtaro	Kizokuin	Independent Club
	Minister for Trade and Industry	Nakajima Chikuhei	Shūgiin	Dainihon Seijikai
Munitions Minister
Minister of transport		Kohiyama Naoto	Kizokuin	-
Greater East Asia Minister	abolished	Shigemitsu Mamoru	Kizokuin	-
Minister for Health and Social Affairs		Matsumura Kenzō	Shūgiin	Dainihon Seijikai
Minister of State		Prince Konoe Fumimaro Obata Toshirō	Kizokuin -	Kayōkai -
Minister of State Chief Cabinet Secretary		Ogata Taketora	Kizokuin	-

Web links

• Kantei , 昭和 20 年代 か ら 40 年代 前 の 内閣 閣僚 名簿 : 東 久 邇 内閣

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . So Higashikuni is the family name, Naruhiko the first name.