Chief Cabinet Secretary

The Template:Nihongo is a member of the cabinet and is the leader and chief executive of the Cabinet Secretariat of Japan.<ref>Cabinet Law, Article 13.</ref> The chief cabinet secretary coordinates the policies of ministries and agencies in the executive branch,<ref>Cabinet Law, Article 12, Paragraph 2, Item 4 and 5</ref> and also serves as the government's press secretary. The secretary is a statutory member of the National Security Council, and is appointed by the emperor upon the nomination by the prime minister.<ref>Cabinet Law, Article 15</ref> The chief cabinet secretary is the second in line of succession to the prime minister, and 1st if the office of the deputy prime minister is unoccupied.Template:Citation needed

History

In March 1879, the precursor of the position, the secretary-general of the Cabinet, was created. From 1885, it was included as part of the cabinet system, and the position was known in Japanese as Template:Nihongo. The modern position was created on May 3, 1947, shortly after the passage of the Constitution of Japan, and elevated to ministerial status in 1966.

Since 1947, the office of chief cabinet secretary has been regarded as a stepping stone to the post of prime minister. The first chief cabinet secretary to become prime minister was Ichirō Hatoyama, who served in the position under Tanaka Giichi. Since then, eight other former chief cabinet secretaries have become prime ministers, most recently Shinzō Abe, Yasuo Fukuda, and Yoshihide Suga.

Yoshihide Suga, who later became Prime Minister of Japan, served as chief cabinet secretary under Shinzo Abe for nearly eight years, making him the longest-serving chief cabinet secretary in history, having overtaken the previous record of 1,289 days in office set by Fukuda on July 7, 2016.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The current chief cabinet secretary is Minoru Kihara, who took office on October 21, 2025.

File:Cabinet Office Government Buildings.jpg

The Cabinet Office Building is where the Cabinet Secretariat resides.

List of secretaries-general of the cabinet

Shōwa era

• Seiji Tsukamoto (December 25, 1926 – April 20, 1927)
• Ichirō Hatoyama (April 20, 1927 – July 2, 1929) - later became prime minister in the mid-1950s.
• Fujiya Suzuki (July 2, 1929 – April 14, 1931)
• Takukichi Kawasaki (April 14, 1931 – December 13, 1931)
• 4 other holders (December 13, 1931 – October 19, 1934)
• Shigeru Yoshida (October 20, 1934 – May 11, 1935) - not to be confused with PM Shigeru Yoshida.
• Takekai Shirane (May 12, 1935 – March 9, 1936)
• 2 other holders (March 9, 1936 – June 4, 1937)
• Akira Kazami (June 4, 1937 – January 4, 1939)
• Harumichi Tanabe (January 4, 1939 – April 7, 1939)
• 3 other holders (April 7, 1939 – July 22, 1940)
• Kenji Tomita (July 22, 1940 – October 18, 1941)
• Naoki Hoshino (October 18, 1941 – July 22, 1944)
• 4 other holders (July 22, 1944 – 7 April 1945)
• Hisatsune Sakomizu (April 7, 1945 – August 15, 1945)
• Taketora Ogata (August, 15 1945 – October 5, 1945)
• Daizaburō Tsugita (October 9, 1945 – January 13, 1946)
• Wataru Narahashi (January 13, 1946 – May 22, 1946)
• Jōji Hayashi (May 22, 1946 – May 2, 1947)

List of chief cabinet secretaries

Shōwa era

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Chief Cabinet Secretary			Term of office			Prime Minister
Portrait		Name	Took office	Left office	Days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Joji hayashi.jpg	Jōji Hayashi	May 3, 1947	May 24, 1947	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Shigeru Yoshida
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Suehiro nishio.jpg	Suehiro Nishio	June 1, 1947	March 10, 1948	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Tetsu Katayama
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:TOMABECHI Gizo.jpg	Gizō Tomabechi	March 10, 1948	October 15, 1948	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Hitoshi Ashida
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Eisaku Sato.jpg	Eisaku SatōTemplate:Refn	October 17, 1948	February 16, 1949	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan=2|	Shigeru Yoshida
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Goshichi no kiri.svg	Kaneshichi Masuda	February 16, 1949	May 6, 1950	Template:Age in days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Katsuo Okazaki.jpg	Katsuo Okazaki	May 6, 1950	December 26, 1951	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan=4|
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Hori Shigeru.JPG	Shigeru Hori	December 26, 1951	October 30, 1952	Template:Age in days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Taketora Ogata 2.jpg	Taketora Ogata	October 30, 1952	May 21, 1953	Template:Age in days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Kenji Fukunaga 01.jpg	Kenji Fukunaga	May 21, 1953	December 10, 1954	Template:Age in days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Goshichi no kiri.svg	Ryutarō Nemoto	December 10, 1954	November 22, 1955	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Ichirō Hatoyama
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |			November 22, 1955	December 23, 1956		style="background-color: Template:Party color" |
rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Hirohide Ishida.jpg	Hirohide Ishida	December 12, 1956	July 10, 1957	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color"|	Tanzan Ishibashi
style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan=4|						Nobusuke Kishi
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Kiichi Aichi.jpg	Kiichi Aichi	July 10, 1957	June 12, 1958	Template:Age in days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Goshichi no kiri.svg	Munenori Akagi	June 12, 1958	June 18, 1959	Template:Age in days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:SHIINA Etsusaburo.jpg	Etsusaburō Shiina	June 18, 1959	July 19, 1960	Template:Age in days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Masayoshi Ohira.jpg	Masayoshi ŌhiraTemplate:Refn	July 19, 1960	July 18, 1962	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan=3|	Hayato Ikeda
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Goshichi no kiri.svg	Yasumi Kurogane	July 18, 1962	July 18, 1964	Template:Age in days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Zenko Suzuki.jpg	Zenkō SuzukiTemplate:Refn	July 18, 1964	November 9, 1964	Template:Age in days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Goshichi no kiri.svg	Tomisaburō Hashimoto	November 9, 1964	August 1, 1966	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan=6|	Eisaku Satō
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Kiichi Aichi.jpg	Kiichi Aichi	August 1, 1966	December 3, 1966	Template:Age in days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Kenji Fukunaga 01.jpg	Kenji Fukunaga	December 3, 1966	June 22, 1967	Template:Age in days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Toshio Kimura.jpg	Toshio Kimura	June 22, 1967	November 30, 1968	Template:Age in days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Hori Shigeru.JPG	Shigeru Hori	November 30, 1968	July 5, 1971	Template:Age in days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Noboru Takeshita cropped Noboru Takeshita 198711.jpg	Noboru TakeshitaTemplate:Refn	July 5, 1971	July 7, 1972	Template:Age in days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Susumu Nikaido 1966.jpg	Susumu Nikaidō	July 7, 1972	November 11, 1974	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan=2|	Kakuei Tanaka
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Noboru Takeshita cropped Noboru Takeshita 198711.jpg	Noboru TakeshitaTemplate:Refn	November 11, 1974	December 9, 1974	Template:Age in days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Goshichi no kiri.svg	Ichitarō Ide	December 9, 1974	December 24, 1976	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Takeo Miki
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Sunao Sonoda, Jul. 1979 (3).jpg	Sunao Sonoda	December 24, 1976	November 28, 1977	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan=2|	Takeo Fukuda
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Shintarō Abe cropped.jpg	Shintaro Abe	November 28, 1977	December 7, 1978	Template:Age in days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Goshichi no kiri.svg	Rokusuke Tanaka	December 7, 1978	November 9, 1979	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan=2|	Masayoshi Ōhira
rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Masayoshi Ito.jpg	Masayoshi ItoTemplate:Refn	November 9, 1979	July 17, 1980	Template:Age in days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |						Himself (Acting)
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Kiichi Miyazawa.jpg	Kiichi MiyazawaTemplate:Refn	July 17, 1980	November 27, 1982	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Zenkō Suzuki
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Goshichi no kiri.svg	Masaharu Gotōda	November 27, 1982	December 27, 1983	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan=3|	Yasuhiro Nakasone
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Goshichi no kiri.svg	Takao Fujinami	December 27, 1983	December 28, 1985	Template:Age in days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Goshichi no kiri.svg	Masaharu Gotōda	December 28, 1985	November 6, 1987	Template:Age in days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Keizo Obuchi 19980730.jpg	Keizō ObuchiTemplate:Refn	November 6, 1987	January 7, 1989	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Noboru Takeshita

Heisei era

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Chief Cabinet Secretary			Term of office			Prime Minister
Portrait		Name	Took office	Left office	Days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Keizo Obuchi 19980730.jpg	Keizō ObuchiTemplate:Refn	January 8, 1989	June 3, 1989	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Noboru Takeshita
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Masajuro Shiokawa cropped 2 Finance Ministers of G7 20030412.jpg	Masajuro Shiokawa	June 3, 1989	August 10, 1989	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Sōsuke Uno
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Goshichi no kiri.svg	Tokuo Yamashita	August 10, 1989	August 26, 1989	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan=3|	Toshiki Kaifu
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Mayumi Moriyama.jpg	Mayumi Moriyama	August 26, 1989	February 28, 1990	Template:Age in days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Goshichi no kiri.svg	Template:Ill	February 28, 1990	November 5, 1991	Template:Age in days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Koichi Kato 1985 (cropped).jpg	Koichi Kato	November 5, 1991	December 12, 1992	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan=2|	Kiichi Miyazawa
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Yōhei Kōno.jpg	Yōhei Kōno	December 12, 1992	August 9, 1993	Template:Age in days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Masayoshi Takemura Tomiichi Murayama Cabinet 19950808.jpg	Masayoshi Takemura	August 9, 1993	April 28, 1994	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Morihiro Hosokawa
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Goshichi no kiri.svg	Template:Ill	April 28, 1994	June 30, 1994	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Tsutomu Hata
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Kozo Igarashi 199310.jpg	Kozo Igarashi	June 30, 1994	August 8, 1995	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan=2|	Tomiichi Murayama
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Koken Nosaka 19940630.jpg	Koken Nosaka	August 8, 1995	January 11, 1996	Template:Age in days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Seiroku Kajiyama.jpg	Seiroku Kajiyama	January 11, 1996	September 11, 1997	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan=2|	Ryutaro Hashimoto
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Kanezō Muraoka.jpg	Template:Ill	September 11, 1997	July 30, 1998	Template:Age in days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Hiromu Nonaka 199807.jpg	Hiromu Nonaka	July 30, 1998	October 10, 1999	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan=2|	Keizo Obuchi
rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Mikio Aoki.jpg	Mikio Aoki	October 10, 1999	July 4, 2000	Template:Age in days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan=3|						Yoshiro Mori
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Hidenao Nakagawa (cropped).jpg	Hidenao Nakagawa	July 4, 2000	October 27, 2000	Template:Age in days
rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Yasuo Fukuda 200709.jpg	Yasuo FukudaTemplate:Refn	October 27, 2000	May 7, 2004	Template:Age in days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan=3|						Junichiro Koizumi
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Hiroyuki Hosoda in New Delhi on 23 September 2016.jpg	Hiroyuki Hosoda	May 7, 2004	October 31, 2005	Template:Age in days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Abe Shinzo.jpg	Shinzo AbeTemplate:Refn	October 31, 2005	September 26, 2006	Template:Age in days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Yasuhisa Shiozaki cropped 2 Caroline Kennedy Penny Pritzker and Yasuhisa Shiozaki 20141020.jpg	Yasuhisa Shiozaki	September 26, 2006	August 27, 2007	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan=2|	Shinzo Abe
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Kaoru Yosano cropped 1 Timothy Geithner and Kaoru Yosano 20090424.jpg	Kaoru Yosano	August 27, 2007	September 26, 2007	Template:Age in days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Machimura Nobutaka 2015.jpg	Nobutaka Machimura	September 26, 2007	September 24, 2008	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Yasuo Fukuda
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Takeo Kawamura.jpg	Takeo Kawamura	September 24, 2008	September 16, 2009	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Taro Aso
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Hirofumi Hirano in Kadena Air Base cropped.png	Hirofumi Hirano	September 16, 2009	June 8, 2010	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Yukio Hatoyama
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Yoshito Sengoku - World Economic Forum Annual Meeting Davos 2010.jpg	Yoshito Sengoku	June 8, 2010	January 4, 2011	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan=2|	Naoto Kan
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Yukio Edano Minshu IMG 5979 20130715.JPG	Yukio Edano	January 4, 2011	September 2, 2011	Template:Age in days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Osamu Fujimura.jpg	Osamu Fujimura	September 2, 2011	December 26, 2012	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Yoshihiko Noda
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Yoshihide Suga 20200916.jpg	Yoshihide SugaTemplate:Refn	December 26, 2012	April 30, 2019	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Shinzo Abe

Reiwa era

Chief Cabinet Secretary			Term of office			Prime Minister
Portrait		Name	Took office	Left office	Days
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Yoshihide Suga 20200916.jpg	Yoshihide SugaTemplate:Refn	May 1, 2019	September 16, 2020	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color"|	Shinzo Abe
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Katsunobu Katō.jpg	Katsunobu Katō	September 16, 2020	October 4, 2021	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Yoshihide Suga
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Hirokazu Matsuno 20211004.jpg	Hirokazu Matsuno	October 4, 2021	December 14, 2023	Template:Age in days	rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Fumio Kishida
rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Party color"|	File:Yoshimasa Hayashi 20231222.jpg	Yoshimasa Hayashi	December 14, 2023	October 1, 2024	Template:Age in days
October 1, 2024			October 21, 2025	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Shigeru Ishiba
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Minoru Kihara 20230914.jpg	Minoru Kihara	October 21, 2025	Incumbent	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Sanae Takaichi

See also

• White House Chief of Staff
• Chief Presidential Secretary