Minister for Foreign Affairs (Japan)

The minister for foreign affairs (外務大臣, Gaimu Daijin) is a member of the cabinet of Japan and is the leader and chief executive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The minister is responsible for implementing Japan's foreign policy and is also a statutory member of the National Security Council. The minister is nominated by the prime minister and is appointed by the emperor of Japan.

Minister of Foreign Affairs
Emblem of the Government of Japan
Incumbent Takeshi Iwaya since 1 October 2024
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Style	His Excellency
Member of	Cabinet of Japan National Security Council
Reports to	Prime Minister of Japan
Appointer	Prime Minister subject to formal attestation by the Emperor
Formation	December 22, 1885; 139 years ago (1885-12-22)
Deputy	State Minister of Foreign Affairs
Salary	¥20,916,000

Since the end of the allied occupation of Japan, the position has been one of the most powerful in the cabinet, as Japan's economic interests have long relied on foreign relations. The recent efforts of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Shinzo Abe to establish a more interventionist foreign policy have also heightened the importance of the position.

The current minister for foreign affairs is Takeshi Iwaya, who took office on October 1, 2024.^[1]

List of ministers for foreign affairs

• Italics indicates subject served as Acting Foreign Minister.
• Bold indicates subject served concurrently as Prime Minister for a period of time.

Empire of Japan (1885–1945)

#	Portrait	Name	Took office	Left office
1		Count Inoue Kaoru	December 1885	September 1887
–		Count Itō Hirobumi	September 1887	February 1888
2		Count Ōkuma Shigenobu (1st)	February 1888	December 1889
3		Viscount Aoki Shūzō (1st)	December 1889	May 1891
4		Viscount Enomoto Takeaki	May 1891	August 1892
5		Viscount Mutsu Munemitsu	August 1892	May 1896
6		Marquis Saionji Kinmochi (1st)	May 1896	September 1896
2		Count Ōkuma Shigenobu (2nd)	September 1896	November 1897
7		Baron Nishi Tokujirō	November 1897	January 1898
2		Count Ōkuma Shigenobu (3rd)	January 1898	June 1898
3		Viscount Aoki Shūzō (2nd)	June 1898	October 1900
8		Katō Takaaki (1st)	October 1900	June 1901
9		Sone Arasuke	June 1901	September 1901
10		Baron Komura Jutarō (1st)	September 1901	January 1906
8		Katō Takaaki (2nd)	January 1906	March 1906
6		Marquis Saionji Kinmochi (2nd)	March 1906	May 1906
11		Count Hayashi Tadasu	May 1906	July 1908
12		General Viscount Terauchi Masatake (1st)	July 1908	August 1908
10		Marquis Komura Jutarō (2nd)	August 1908	August 1911
13		Viscount Uchida Kosai (1st)	August 1911	December 1912
14		Prince Katsura Tarō	December 1912	January 1913
8		Baron Katō Takaaki (3rd)	January 1913	February 1913
15		Baron Makino Nobuaki	February 1913	April 1914
8		Baron Katō Takaaki (4th)	April 1914	August 1915
2		Count Ōkuma Shigenobu (4th)	August 1915	October 1915
16		Viscount Ishii Kikujirō	October 1915	October 1916
12		Marshal Count Terauchi Masatake (2nd)	October 1916	November 1916
17		Viscount Motono Ichirō	November 1916	April 1918
18		Baron Gotō Shinpei	April 1918	September 1918
13		Count Uchida Kosai (2nd)	September 1918	2 September 1923
19		Admiral Count Yamamoto Gonnohyōe	2 September 1923	19 September 1923
20		Baron Ijuin Hikokichi	September 1923	January 1924
21		Baron Matsui Keishirō	January 1924	June 1924
22		Baron Kijūrō Shidehara (1st)	June 1924	April 1927
23		Baron Tanaka Giichi	April 1927	July 1929
22		Baron Kijūrō Shidehara (2nd)	July 1929	December 1931
24		Inukai Tsuyoshi	December 1931	January 1932
25		Kenkichi Yoshizawa	January 1932	May 1932
26		Admiral Viscount Saitō Makoto	May 1932	July 1932
13		Count Uchida Kosai (3rd)	July 1932	September 1933
27		Kōki Hirota (1st)	September 1933[a]	April 1936
28		Hachirō Arita (1st)	April 1936	February 1937
29		Senjuro Hayashi	February 1937	March 1937
30		Naotake Satō	March 1937	June 1937
27		Kōki Hirota (2nd)	June 1937	May 1938
31		General Kazushige Ugaki	May 1938	September 1938
32		Prince Fumimaro Konoe	September 1938	October 1938
28		Hachirō Arita (2nd)	October 1938	January 1939
33		General Nobuyuki Abe	January 1939	August 1939
34		Admiral Kichisaburō Nomura	August 1939	January 1940
28		Hachirō Arita (3rd)	January 1940	July 1940
35		Yōsuke Matsuoka	July 1940	July 1941
36		Admiral Teijirō Toyoda	July 1941	October 1941
37		Shigenori Tōgō (1st)	October 1941	September 1942
38		General Hideki Tōjō	1 September 1942	17 September 1942
39		Masayuki Tani	September 1942	April 1943
40		Mamoru Shigemitsu (1st)	April 1943	April 1945
41		Admiral Baron Kantarō Suzuki	April 1945	April 1945
37		Shigenori Tōgō (2nd)	April 1945	August 1945
40		Mamoru Shigemitsu (2nd)	August 1945	September 1945

Postwar Japan (1945–present)

  Liberal (1945)
  Imperial Family
  Progressive
  Socialist
  Democratic (1947)
  Democratic Liberal
  Liberal (1950)
  Democratic (1954)
  Liberal Democratic
  Japan Renewal Party
  Japan New Party
  Liberal League
  Democratic

Foreign Minister				Term of office			Prime Minister
#	Portrait		Name	Took office	Left office	Days
43			Shigeru Yoshida	September 15, 1945	May 24, 1947	616		Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni
								Kijūrō Shidehara
								Shigeru Yoshida
-			Tetsu Katayama	May 24, 1947	June 1, 1947	8		Tetsu Katayama
44			Hitoshi Ashida	June 1, 1947	October 15, 1948	502
								Hitoshi Ashida
(43)			Shigeru Yoshida	October 15, 1948	April 30, 1952	1293		Shigeru Yoshida
45			Katsuo Okazaki	April 30, 1952	December 10, 1954	954
(40)			Mamoru Shigemitsu	December 10, 1954	November 22, 1955	744		Ichirō Hatoyama
				November 22, 1955	December 23, 1956
-			Tanzan Ishibashi	December 23, 1956	December 23, 1956	0		Tanzan Ishibashi
46			Nobusuke Kishi	December 23, 1956	July 10, 1957	199
								Nobusuke Kishi
47			Aiichirō Fujiyama	July 10, 1957	July 19, 1960	1105
48			Zentaro Kosaka	July 19, 1960	July 18, 1962	729		Hayato Ikeda
49			Masayoshi Ōhira	July 18, 1962	July 18, 1964	731
50			Shiina Etsusaburo	July 18, 1964	December 3, 1966	868
								Eisaku Satō
51			Takeo Miki	December 3, 1966	October 29, 1968	696
-			Eisaku Satō	October 29, 1968	November 30, 1968	32
52			Kiichi Aichi	November 30, 1968	July 9, 1971	951
53			Takeo Fukuda	July 9, 1971	July 7, 1972	364
(49)			Masayoshi Ōhira	July 7, 1972	July 16, 1974	739		Kakuei Tanaka
54			Toshio Kimura	July 16, 1974	December 9, 1974	146
55			Kiichi Miyazawa	December 9, 1974	September 5, 1976	646		Takeo Miki
(48)			Zentaro Kosaka	September 5, 1976	December 24, 1976	100
56			Iichirō Hatoyama	December 24, 1976	November 28, 1977	339		Takeo Fukuda
57			Sunao Sonoda	November 28, 1977	November 8, 1979	710
								Masayoshi Ōhira
58			Saburō Ōkita	November 8, 1979	July 17, 1980	252
59			Masayoshi Ito	July 17, 1980	May 18, 1981	305		Zenkō Suzuki
(57)			Sunao Sonoda	May 18, 1981	November 30, 1981	196
60			Yoshio Sakurauchi	November 30, 1981	November 27, 1982	362
61			Shintaro Abe	November 27, 1982	July 22, 1986	1333		Yasuhiro Nakasone
62			Tadashi Kuranari	July 22, 1986	November 6, 1987	472
63			Sosuke Uno	November 6, 1987	June 3, 1989	575		Noboru Takeshita
64			Hiroshi Mitsuzuka	June 3, 1989	August 10, 1989	68		Sosuke Uno
65			Taro Nakayama	August 10, 1989	November 5, 1991	817		Toshiki Kaifu
66			Michio Watanabe	November 5, 1991	April 7, 1993	519		Kiichi Miyazawa
67			Kabun Mutō	April 7, 1993	August 9, 1993	124
68			Tsutomu Hata	August 9, 1993	April 28, 1994	262		Morihiro Hosokawa
69			Koji Kakizawa	April 28, 1994	June 30, 1994	63		Tsutomu Hata
70			Yōhei Kōno	June 30, 1994	January 11, 1996	560		Tomiichi Murayama
71			Yukihiko Ikeda	January 11, 1996	September 11, 1997	609		Ryutaro Hashimoto
72			Keizo Obuchi	September 11, 1997	July 30, 1998	322
73			Masahiko Kōmura	July 30, 1998	October 5, 1999	432		Keizo Obuchi
(70)			Yōhei Kōno	October 5, 1999	April 26, 2001	569
								Yoshiro Mori
74			Makiko Tanaka	April 26, 2001	January 29, 2002	278		Junichiro Koizumi
75			Junichiro Koizumi (Acting)	January 29, 2002	February 1, 2002	3
76			Yoriko Kawaguchi	February 1, 2002	September 27, 2004	969
77			Nobutaka Machimura	September 27, 2004	October 31, 2005	399
78			Tarō Asō	October 31, 2005	August 27, 2007	665
								Shinzō Abe
(77)			Nobutaka Machimura	August 27, 2007	September 26, 2007	30
(73)			Masahiko Kōmura	September 26, 2007	September 24, 2008	364		Yasuo Fukuda
79			Hirofumi Nakasone	September 24, 2008	September 16, 2009	357		Tarō Asō
80			Katsuya Okada	September 16, 2009	September 17, 2010	366		Yukio Hatoyama
								Naoto Kan
81			Seiji Maehara	September 17, 2010	March 7, 2011	171
–			Yukio Edano (Acting)	March 7, 2011	March 9, 2011	2
82			Takeaki Matsumoto	March 9, 2011	September 2, 2011	177
83			Kōichirō Genba	September 2, 2011	December 26, 2012	481		Yoshihiko Noda
84			Fumio Kishida	December 26, 2012	August 3, 2017	1681		Shinzō Abe
85			Taro Kono	August 3, 2017	September 11, 2019	769
86			Toshimitsu Motegi	September 11, 2019	November 4, 2021	785
								Yoshihide Suga
(84)			Fumio Kishida (Acting)	November 4, 2021	November 10, 2021	6		Fumio Kishida
87			Yoshimasa Hayashi	November 10, 2021	September 13, 2023	672
88			Yōko Kamikawa	September 13, 2023	October 1, 2024	384
89			Takeshi Iwaya	October 1, 2024	Incumbent	223		Shigeru Ishiba

See also

• Foreign minister
• Foreign policy of Japan

Notes

1. Appointed as Prime Minister during the tenure.