List of Foreign Ministers of Japan

This is a chronological list of all the Foreign Ministers of Japan .

The terms of office in the cabinet are not shown in the table. For example, Takeaki Matsumoto is listed as the 79th person to become Japanese Foreign Minister while his tenure is the 145th.

List of Foreign Ministers from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 to the establishment of the Cabinet in 1885

Note: The dates also follow the Gregorian calendar before 1873, the Japanese date is given in brackets.

title	Surname	Taking office	Origin / political grouping
Foreign Minister in the Restoration Government (after the ōsei-fukko no daigōrei , the "great decree for the restoration of the monarchy")
gaimu jimu sōsai ( 外国 事務 総 裁 )	Prince Komatsu Akihito	Feb. 2, 1868 ( Keiō 4/1/9)	Imperial family
gaimu jimu sōtoku ( 外国 事務 総 督 )	Prince Yamashina Akira	Feb 10, 1868 (Keiō 4/1/17)	Imperial family
	Sanjō Sanetomi		Court nobility
	Date Munenari		Uwajima
	Higashikuze Michitomi		Court nobility
	Sawa Nobuyoshi		Court nobility
gaimu jimu kyokutoku ( 外国 事務 局 督 )	Prince Yamashina Akira	March 13, 1868 (Keiō 4/2/20)	Imperial family
Foreign Minister in the Dajōkan (the reactivated variant of the imperial form of government in ancient times .)
gaimukan chiji ( 外国 官 知事 )	Date Munenari	June 11, 1868 (Keiō 4 / Schalt -4/21)	Uwajima
	Sawa Nobuyoshi	Aug 3, 1869 ( Meiji 2/6/26)	Court nobility
gaimu-kyō ( 外務 卿 )	Sawa Nobuyoshi	Aug 15, 1869 (Meiji 2/7/8)	Court nobility
	Iwakura Tomomi	29 Aug 1871 (Meiji 4/7/14)	Court nobility
	Soejima Taneomi	15 Dec 1871 (Meiji 4/11/4)	saga
gaimu jimu sōsai ( 外国 事務 総 裁 )	Soejima Taneomi	Oct 13, 1873 (Meiji 6/10/13)	saga
gaimu-kyō ( 外務 卿 )	Terashima Munenori	Oct 28, 1873 (Meiji 6/10/28)	Bakushin (former Tokugawa follower)
	Inoue Kaoru	Sep 10 1879 (Meiji 12/9/10)	Choshu

List of Foreign Ministers since the Cabinet was established in 1885

#	Surname	Inauguration	adoption	cabinet	Political group / party	image	annotation
1.	Inoue Kaoru	Dec 22, 1885	September 1887	Itō I	Chōshū clique
2.	Itō Hirobumi	17 Sep 1887	1888	Itō I	Chōshū clique
3.	Ōkuma Shigenobu	Feb. 1, 1888 April 30, 1888	1889	Itō i Kuroda	Rikken Kaishinto		First term, second term
4th	Aoki Shūzō	Dec. 24, 1889 May 6, 1891	1891	Yamagata I Matsukata I	Chōshū clique		First term, second term
5.	Enomoto Takeaki	May 29, 1891	1892	Matsukata I	Bakushin
6th	Mutsu Munemitsu	Aug 8, 1892	1896	Itō II	Kishu
7th	Saionji Kimmochi	May 30, 1896 Sep 18 1896	1896	Itō II Matsukata II	Noble		First term, second term
8th.	Ōkuma Shigenobu	22 Sep 1892	1897	Matsukata II	Shimpotō		Third term
9.	Nishi Tokujirō	Nov 6, 1897 Jan 12, 1898	June 30, 1898	Matsukata II Itō III	Satsuma clique		First term, second term
10.	Ōkuma Shigenobu	June 30, 1898	1898	Ōkuma I	Kenseitō		Fourth term
11.	Aoki Shūzō	Nov 8, 1898	1900	Yamagata II	Ministerial bureaucracy		Third term
12.	Katō Takaaki	Oct. 19, 1900	June 1901	Itō IV	Ministerial bureaucracy		First term
	Sone Arasuke	June 2, 1901	September 1901	Katsura I	Chōshū clique
13.	Komura Jutaro	21 Sep 1901	1906	Katsura I	Ministerial bureaucracy		First term
14th	Katō Takaaki	Jan. 7, 1906	1906	Saionji I	Ministerial bureaucracy		Second term
15th	Saionji Kimmochi	March 3, 1906	1906	Saionji I	Seiyūkai		Second term
16.	Hayashi Tadasu	May 19, 1906	1908	Saionji I	Bakushin
17th	Terauchi Masatake	July 14, 1908	1908	Katsura II	army		First term
18th	Komura Jutaro	Aug 27, 1908	1911	Katsura II	Ministerial bureaucracy		Second term
19th	Uchida Kosai	Aug 30, 1911	1912	Saionji II	Ministerial bureaucracy		First term
20th	Katsura Taro	Dec 21, 1912	1913	Katsura III	army
21st	Katō Takaaki	Jan. 29, 1913	1913	Katsura III	Ministerial bureaucracy		Third term
22nd	Makino Nobuaki	Feb. 20, 1913	1914	Yamamoto I	Ministerial bureaucracy
23.	Katō Takaaki	April 16, 1914	1915	Ōkuma II	Ministerial bureaucracy		Fourth term
24.	Ōkuma Shigenobu	Aug 10, 1915	1915	Ōkuma II	Ōkuma Hakukōenkai		Fourth term
25th	Ishii Kikujirō	Oct 13, 1915	1916	Ōkuma II	Ministerial bureaucracy
26th	Terauchi Masatake	Oct 9, 1916	1916	Tarauchi	army		Second term
27.	Motono Ichirō	Nov 21, 1916	1918	Terauchi	Ministerial bureaucracy
28.	Gotō Shimpei	Apr 23, 1918	1918	Terauchi	Ministerial ( Home Office )
29	Uchida Kosai	29 Sep 1918 Nov 13, 1921 June 12, 1922	1923	Hara Takahashi Kato	Ministerial bureaucracy		Second term, third term, fourth term
30th	Yamamoto Gonnohyōe	Sep 2 1923	1923	Yamamoto II	marine
31.	Ijūin Hikokichi	19 Sep 1923	January 1924	Yamamoto II	Ministerial bureaucracy
32.	Matsui Keishirō	Jan. 7, 1924	June 1924	Kiyoura	Ministerial bureaucracy
33.	Shidehara Kijūrō	June 11, 1924 Jan. 30, 1926	1927	Katō Wakatsuki I	Ministerial bureaucracy		First term, second term
34.	Tanaka Giichi	Feb 20, 1927	1929	Tanaka	Seiyūkai
35.	Shidehara Kijūrō	July 2, 1929 April 14, 1931	1931	Hamaguchi Wakatsuki II	Ministerial bureaucracy		Third term, fourth term
| Inukai Tsuyoshi	Dec 13, 1931	1932	Inukai	Seiyūkai
36.	Yoshizawa Kenkichi	Jan. 14, 1932	1932	Inukai	Seiyūkai
37.	Saitō Makoto	May 26, 1932	1932	Saitō	marine
38.	Uchida Kosai	July 6, 1932	1933	Saitō	Ministerial bureaucracy		Fifth term
39.	Hirota Kōki	Sep 14 1933 July 8, 1934 March 9, 1936	1936	Saitō Okada Hirota	Ministerial bureaucracy		First term of office Second term of office Third term of office
40.	Arita Hachirō	Apr 2, 1936	1937	Hirota	Ministerial bureaucracy		First term
41.	Hayashi Senjūrō	Feb. 2, 1937	March 1937	Hayashi	army
42.	Satō Naotake	March 3, 1937	June 1937	Hayashi	Ministerial bureaucracy
43.	Hirota Kōki	June 4, 1937	1938	Konoe I.	Ministerial bureaucracy		Fourth term
44.	Ugaki Kazushige	May 26, 1938	1938	Konoe I.	army
	Konoe Fumimaro	Sep 30 1938	Oct. 29, 1938	Konoe I.	Noble
45.	Arita Hachirō	Oct. 29, 1938 Jan. 5, 1939	1939	Konoe I Hiranuma	Ministerial bureaucracy		Second term. Third term
46.	Abe Nobuyuki	Aug 30, 1939	1939	Abe	army
47.	Nomura Kichisaburō	28 Sep 1933	1940	Abe	marine
48.	Arita Hachirō	Jan. 16, 1940	1940	Yonai	Ministerial bureaucracy		Fourth term
49.	Matsuoka Yosuke	July 22, 1940	1941	Konoe II	Ministerial bureaucracy
50.	Toyoda Teijirō	July 18, 1941	Oct 18, 1941	Konoe III	marine
51.	Tōgō Shigenori	Oct 18, 1941	September 1942	Tōjō	Ministerial bureaucracy		First term
52.	Tōjō Hideki	Sep 1 1942	1942	Tōjō	army
53.	Tani Masayuki	17 Sep 1942	1943	Tōjo	Ministerial bureaucracy
54.	Shigemitsu Mamoru	April 20, 1943 July 22, 1944	1945	Tōjō Koiso	Ministerial bureaucracy		First term, second term
55.	Suzuki Kantaro	Apr 7, 1945	1945	Suzuki	marine
56.	Tōgō Shigenori	Apr 9, 1945	August 1945	Suzuki	Ministerial bureaucracy		Second term
57.	Shigemitsu Mamoru	Aug 17, 1945	1945	Higashikuni	Ministerial bureaucracy		Third term
58.	Yoshida Shigeru	May 19, 1945 October 9, 1945 May 22, 1946	1947	Higashikuni Shidehara Yoshida I	Ministerial ministerial Liberal Party of Japan		First term of office Second term of office Third term of office
	Katayama Tetsu	May 24, 1947	June 1, 1947	Katayama	Socialist Party of Japan
59.	Ashida Hitoshi	June 1, 1947	1948	Katayama	Democratic Party
	Ashida Hitoshi	March 10, 1948	1948	Ashida	Democratic Party		Second term
60.	Yoshida Shigeru	Oct. 19, 1948 Feb. 16, 1949	1954	Yoshida II Yoshida III Yoshida III (bottom) Yoshida III (2nd bottom) Yoshida III (3rd bottom)	Democratic-Liberal Party Liberal Party		Fourth term Fifth term
	Okazaki Katsuo	Apr 30, 1952 Oct 30, 1952 May 21, 1953	Oct. 30, 1952 May 21, 1953 Dec. 10, 1954	Yoshida III (3rd U.) Yoshida IV Yoshida V	Liberal Party
61.	Shigemitsu Mamoru	Dec 10, 1954 March 19, 1955 Nov 22, 1955	1956	Hatoyama I Hatoyama II Hatoyama III	Democratic Party of Japan Liberal Democratic Party		Fourth term. Fifth term. Sixth term
	Ishibashi Tanzan	23 Dec 1956	23 Dec 1956	Ishibashi	Liberal Democratic Party
62.	Kishi Nobusuke	23 Dec 1956 25 Feb 1957	1957	Ishibashi Kishi I.	Liberal Democratic Party
63.	Fujiyama Aiichirō	July 10, 1957 June 12, 1958 June 18, 1959	1960	Kishi I (U.) Kishi II Kishi II (U.)	Liberal Democratic Party
64.	Kosaka Zentaro	July 19, 1960 December 8, 1960 July 18, 1961	1962	Ikeda I Ikeda II Ikeda II (1st U.)	Liberal Democratic Party		First term, second term
65.	Ōhira Masayoshi	July 18, 1962 July 18, 1963 December 9, 1963	1964	Ikeda II (2nd panel) Ikeda II (3rd panel) Ikeda III	Liberal Democratic Party		First term, second term
66.	Shiina etsusaburō	July 18, 1964 Nov. 9, 1964 June 3, 1965 Aug. 1, 1966	1966	Ikeda III (lower) Satō I Satō I (1st letter) Satō I (2nd letter)	Liberal Democratic Party		First term, second term
67.	Miki Takeo	Dec. 3, 1966 Feb. 17, 1967 Nov. 25, 1967	1968	Satō I (3rd U.) Satō II Satō II (1st U.)	Liberal Democratic Party		First term, second term
	Satō Eisaku	Oct 29, 1968	Nov. 30, 1968	Satō II (1st U.)	Liberal Democratic Party
68.	Aichi Kiichi	Nov. 30, 1968 Jan. 14, 1970	1971	Satō II (2nd U.) Cabinet Satō III	Liberal Democratic Party		First term, second term
69.	Fukuda Takeo	July 9, 1971	1972	Satō III (U.)	Liberal Democratic Party
70.	Ōhira Masayoshi	July 7, 1972 Dec. 22, 1972 Nov. 25, 1973	1974	Tanaka I Tanaka II Tanaka II (1st U.)	Liberal Democratic Party		Third term, fourth term
71.	Kimura Toshio	July 16, 1974 Nov. 11, 1974	1974	Tanaka II (1st U.) Tanaka II (2nd U.)	Liberal Democratic Party
72.	Miyazawa Kiichi	Dec 9, 1974	1976	Miki	Liberal Democratic Party
73.	Kosaka Zentaro	Sep 15 1976	1976	Miki (U.)	Liberal Democratic Party		Third term
74.	Hatoyama Iichirō	Dec. 24, 1976	1977	Fukuda	Liberal Democratic Party ( Sangiin )
75.	Sonoda Sunao	Nov 28, 1977 Dec 7, 1978	1979	Fukuda (U.) Ōhira I.	Liberal Democratic Party		First term, second term
76.	Ōkita Saburō	Nov 8, 1979	1980	Ōhira II	-
77.	Itō Masayoshi	17th July 1980	1981	Suzuki	Liberal Democratic Party
78.	Sonoda Sunao	May 18, 1981	1981	Suzuki	Liberal Democratic Party		Third term
79.	Sakurauchi Yoshio	Nov. 30, 1981	1982	Suzuki (U.)	Liberal Democratic Party
80.	Abe Shintaro	Nov. 27, 1982 Dec. 27, 1983 Nov. 1, 1984 Dec. 28, 1985	1986	Nakasone I Nakasone II Nakasone II (1. U.) Nakasone II (2. U.)	Liberal Democratic Party
81.	Kuranari Tadashi	July 22, 1986	1987	Nakasone III	Liberal Democratic Party
82	Uno Sōsuke	Nov 6, 1987 Dec 27, 1988	1989	Takeshita Takeshita (U.)	Liberal Democratic Party
83.	Mitsuzuka Hiroshi	June 3, 1989	1989	U.N	Liberal Democratic Party
84.	Nakayama Taro	Aug 10, 1989 Feb 28, 1990 Dec 29, 1990	1991	Kaifu I Kaifu II Kaifu II (U)	Liberal Democratic Party
85.	Watanabe Michio	Nov 5, 1991 Dec 12, 1992	1993	Miyazawa Miyazawa (U.)	Liberal Democratic Party
86.	Mutō Kabun	Apr 7, 1993	1993	Miyazawa (U.)	Liberal Democratic Party
87.	Hata Tsutomu	Aug 9, 1993 April 28, 1994	1994	Hosokawa Hata	Renewal Party
88	Kakizawa Kōji	Apr 28, 1994	1994	Hata	Liberal Party
89.	Kōno Yōhei	June 30, 1994 Aug 8, 1995	1996	Murayama Murayama (U.)	Liberal Democratic Party		First term
90.	Ikeda Yukihiko	Jan. 11, 1996 Nov. 7, 1996	1997	Hashimoto I Hashimoto II	Liberal Democratic Party
91.	Obuchi Keizo	Sep 11 1997	1998	Hashimoto II (U.)	Liberal Democratic Party
92.	Kōmura Masahiko	July 30, 1998 Jan. 14, 1999	1999	Obuchi Obuchi (1st U.)	Liberal Democratic Party		First term
93.	Kōno Yōhei	Oct 5, 1999 April 5, 2000 July 4, 2000 Dec 5, 2000	2001	Obuchi (2nd U.) Mori I Mori II Mori II (U.)	Liberal Democratic Party		Second term, third term, fourth term
94.	Tanaka Makiko	June 24, 2001	2002	Koizumi I	Liberal Democratic Party
95.	Koizumi Jun'ichirō	Jan. 30, 2002	2002	Koizumi I	Liberal Democratic Party
96.	Kawaguchi Yoriko	Feb. 1, 2002 Sep. 30 2002 Sep 22 2003 Nov 19, 2003	2004	Koizumi I Koizumi I (1st letter) Koizumi I (2nd letter) Koizumi II	-
97.	Machimura Nobutaka	27 Sep 2004 Sep 21 2005	2005	Koizumi II (U.) Koizumi III	Liberal Democratic Party		First term, second term
98	Asō Tarō	Oct. 31, 2005 Sep. 26 2006	2007	Koizumi III (U.) Abe I	Liberal Democratic Party
99	Machimura Nobutaka	Aug 27, 2007	2007	Abe I (U.)	Liberal Democratic Party		Third term
100.	Kōmura Masahiko	26 Sep 2007 Aug 2, 2008	2008	Y. Fukuda Y. Fukuda (U)	Liberal Democratic Party		Second term
101.	Nakasone Hirofumi	Sep 24 2008	2009	Asō	Liberal Democratic Party
102.	Okada Katsuya	16 Sep 2009 June 8, 2010	2010	Hatoyama Kan	Democratic Party
103.	Maehara Seiji	17 Sep 2010 Jan. 14, 2011	2011	Kan (1st letter) Kan (2nd letter)	Democratic Party
	Edano Yukio	March 7, 2011	2011	Kan (2nd U.)	Democratic Party		interim
104.	Matsumoto Takeaki	March 9, 2011	2011	Kan (2nd U.)	Democratic Party
105.	Gemba Kōichirō	Sep 2 2011	2012	Noda Noda (1st U.) Noda (2nd U.) Noda (3rd U.)	Democratic Party
106.	Kishida Fumio	Dec 26, 2012 Dec 24, 2014	2017	Abe II Abe II (U) Abe III Abe III (1. U.) Abe III (2. U.)	Liberal Democratic Party
107.	Kono Taro	Aug 3, 2017 Nov 1, 2017	2019	Abe III (3rd U.) Abe IV Abe IV (1st U.)	Liberal Democratic Party		Two terms
108.	Motegi Toshimitsu	Sep 11 2019		Abe IV (2nd U.)	Liberal Democratic Party

Web links

• Foreign Ministry : List of Foreign Ministers since 1868 (Japanese)
• Short biography of the ministers on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (English)
• List of Japanese Prime (English)

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Inoue is the family name, Kaoru the first name.