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:

• When a motion of no confidence is adopted, or a vote of confidence defeated, by the House of Representatives, unless there is a dissolution of the house within ten days.
• Upon the first convocation of the Diet after a general election to the House of Representatives (even if the same Prime Minister is to be re-elected and appointed, and every other minister is to be reappointed).
• When the position Prime Minister becomes vacant, or the Prime Minister declares his intention to resign.

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

• Promulgation of amendments to the laws, cabinet orders and treaties.
• Convocation of the Diet.
• Dissolution of the House of Representatives.
• Proclamation of general elections to the Diet.
• Receiving of foreign ambassadors and ministers.
• Conferring of honours.

Explicit powers

• Execution of the law.
• Conduct of foreign affairs.
• Conclusion of treaties (with the consent of the Diet).
• Administration of the civil service.
• Drafting of the budget (which must be adopted by the Diet).
• Adoption of cabinet orders.
• Granting of general amnesty, special amnesty, commutation of punishment, reprieve, and restoration of rights.
• Signing of laws or cabinet orders by the relevant Minister of State and countersigned by the Prime Minister.
• Appointment of the associate justices of the Supreme Court of Japan (except for the Chief Justice, who is designated by the Prime Minister and formally appointed by the Emperor).
• Appointment of vice-ministers (who are nominated by their respective Minister to whom they will report).

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 2016 are as follows:

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 the Social Security and Tax Number System	Sanae Takaichi
Minister of Justice	Katsutoshi Kaneda
Minister of Foreign Affairs	Fumio Kishida
Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Minister in charge of Education Rebuilding	Hirokazu Matsuno
Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare	Yasuhisa Shiozaki
Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries	Yuji Yamamoto
Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Minister in charge of Industrial Competitiveness 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 in charge of Water Cycle Policy	Keiichi Ishii
Minister of the Environment Minister of State for Nuclear Emergency Preparedness	Koichi Yamamoto
Minister of Defence	Tomomi Inada
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	Masahiro Imamura
Chair of the National Public Safety Commission Minister in charge of Ocean Policy and Territorial Issues Minister in charge of Building National Resilience Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Food Safety Minister of State for Disaster Management	Jun Matsumoto
Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs Minister in charge of the Cool Japan Strategy Minister in charge of the Intellectual Property Strategy Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy Minister of State for Space Policy Minister in charge of Information Technology Policy	Yōsuke Tsuruho
Minister in charge of Economic Revitalisation Minister in charge of Total Reform of Social Security and Tax Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy	Nobuteru Ishihara
Minister in Charge of Promoting Dynamic Engagement of All Citizens Minister in charge of Reforming Ways of Working Minister in charge of Women's Empowerment Minister in charge of the Challenge Again Initiative Minister in charge of the Abduction Issue Minister of State for Measures for Declining Birthrate Minister of State for Gender Equality	Katsunobu Katō
Minister in charge of Overcoming Population Decline and Vitalising Local Economy in Japan Minister of State for Regulatory Reform Minister of State for National Strategic Special Zones Minister in charge of Administrative Reform Minister in charge of Civil Service Reform	Kozo Yamamoto
Minister in charge of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games	Tamayo Marukawa

See also

• List of female cabinet ministers of Japan
• Politics of Japan
• Cabinet

References

• The Japan Times. "Cabinet Profiles" [since 2008]. The Japan Times Online. Accessed 13 October 2012 from: http://www.japantimes.com/cabinets.htm
• Cabinet Secretariat, Office of Cabinet Public Relations, Japan (2003). Prime Minister of Japan and His Cabinet. Retrieved 28 Oct. 2003 from: http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/index-e.html
• Hunter, Janet (1984). Concise Dictionary of Modern Japanese History. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, pp. 266–324, Appendix 5: Japanese Cabinets Since the Introduction of the Cabinet System in 1885 [to 1980].

External links

• Official Website of the Prime Minister of Japan and His Cabinet, Third Reshuffled Noda Cabinet
• List of Japanese cabinets (in Japanese only, Cabinets since 1996 in English)
• Cabinet Office
• Cabinet Secretariat (in Japanese only)
• Cabinet Legislation Bureau