Minister of Justice (Japan)

Template:Short description Template:More citations neededTemplate:Infobox official post The Template:Nihongo is a member of the Cabinet of Japan and is the leader and chief executive of the Ministry of Justice. The minister is nominated by the Prime Minister of Japan and is appointed by the Emperor of Japan.

The current minister is Hiroshi Hiraguchi, who took office on 21 October 2025.

Organization and authority

On 1 August 1952, the Attorney General's Office became the Ministry of Justice, headed by a Minister of Justice rather than an attorney general.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

By law, the Minister of Justice is authorized to order executions of any inmate on death row at anytime, making the position highly influential. The Minister is also authorized to deport or grant any foreigner residential or permanent visas.

List of ministers of justice

Justice minister				Term of office			Prime minister
#	Portrait		Name	Took office	Left office	Days
1	style="background-color: Template:Party color"|		Tokutaro Kimura	August 1, 1952	October 30, 1952	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan="4" |	Shigeru Yoshida
2	style="background-color: Template:Party color"|	File:Takeru inukai.jpg	Takeru Inukai	October 30, 1952	April 22, 1954	Template:Age in days
3	style="background-color: Template:Party color"|	File:Ryogoro kato.jpg	Ryogo Kato	April 22, 1954	June 19, 1954	Template:Age in days
4	style="background-color: Template:Party color"|	File:Naoshi Ohara 3.jpg	Naoshi Ohara	June 19, 1954	December 10, 1954	Template:Age in days
5	style="background-color: Template:Party color"|	File:Hanamura Shiro.jpg	Shiro Hamamura	December 10, 1954	November 22, 1955	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan="2" |	Ichirō Hatoyama
6	style="background-color: Template:Party color"|	File:Ryozo makino.jpg	Ryozo Makino	November 22, 1955	December 23, 1956	Template:Age in days
7	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan="2" |	File:Umekichi Nakamura 1965.jpg	Umekichi Nakamura	December 23, 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
8	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Toshiki Karasa	July 10, 1957	June 12, 1958	Template:Age in days
9	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Kiichi Aichi	June 12, 1958	June 18, 1959	Template:Age in days
10	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Hiroya Ino.jpg	Hiroya Ino	June 18, 1959	July 19, 1960	Template:Age in days
11	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Tetsuzo Kojima.jpg	Tetsuzo Kojima	July 19, 1960	December 8, 1960	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan="4" |	Hayato Ikeda
12	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Koshiro Ueki	December 8, 1960	July 18, 1962	Template:Age in days
13	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Nakagaki Kunio.JPG	Kunio Nakagaki	July 18, 1962	July 18, 1963	Template:Age in days
14	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:KayaOkinori.jpg	Okinori Kaya	July 18, 1963	July 18, 1964	Template:Age in days
15	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan="2" |		Hitoshi Takahashi	July 18, 1964	June 3, 1965	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color"|
	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |						Eisaku Satō
16	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Mitsujiro Ishii.jpg	Mitsujirō Ishii	June 3, 1965	December 3, 1966	Template:Age in days		style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan="8" |
17	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Isaji Tanaka	December 3, 1966	November 25, 1967	Template:Age in days
18	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Bunzo Akama.jpg	Bunzo Akama	November 25, 1967	November 30, 1968	Template:Age in days
19	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Saigo Kichinosuke.JPG	Kichinosuke Saigo	November 30, 1968	January 14, 1970	Template:Age in days
20	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Takeji Kobayashi	January 14, 1970	February 9, 1971	Template:Age in days
21	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Daisuke Akita	February 9, 1971	February 17, 1971	Template:Age in days
22 (12)	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Koshiro Ueki	February 17, 1971	July 5, 1971	Template:Age in days
23	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Shigesaburo Maeo.jpg	Shigesaburō Maeo	July 5, 1971	July 7, 1972	Template:Age in days
24	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Yūichi Kōri	July 7, 1972	December 22, 1972	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan="4" |	Kakuei Tanaka
25	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Isaji Tanaka	December 22, 1972	November 25, 1973	Template:Age in days
26	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Umekichi Nakamura	November 25, 1973	November 11, 1974	Template:Age in days
27	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Seigo Hamano	November 11, 1974	December 9, 1974	Template:Age in days
28	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Osamu Inaba 1972.jpg	Osamu Inaba	December 9, 1974	December 24, 1976	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color"|	Takeo Miki
29	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Hajime Fukuda	December 24, 1976	October 5, 1977	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan="2" |	Takeo Fukuda
30	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Mitsuo Setoyama 1982.jpg	Mitsuo Setayama	October 5, 1977	December 7, 1978	Template:Age in days
31	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Yoshimi Furui	December 7, 1978	November 9, 1979	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan="2" |	Masayoshi Ōhira
32	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Tadao Kuraishi	November 9, 1979	July 17, 1980	Template:Age in days
33	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Seisuke Okuno 1972.jpg	Seisuke Okuno	July 17, 1980	November 30, 1980	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan="2" |	Zenkō Suzuki
34	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Michita Sakata 1968.jpg	Michita Sakata	November 30, 1980	November 27, 1982	Template:Age in days
35	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Hatano Akira	November 27, 1982	December 27, 1983	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan="5" |	Yasuhiro Nakasone
36	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Eisaku Sumi	December 27, 1983	November 1, 1984	Template:Age in days
37	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Hitoshi Shimazaki	November 1, 1984	December 28, 1985	Template:Age in days
38	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Seigo Suzuki	December 28, 1985	July 22, 1986	Template:Age in days
39	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Kaname Endo	July 22, 1986	November 6, 1987	Template:Age in days
40	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Yukio Hasegawa	November 6, 1987	December 27, 1988	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan="3" |	Noboru Takeshita
41	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Takashi Hasegawa	December 27, 1998	December 30, 1998	Template:Age in days
42	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Masami Takatsuji	December 30, 1998	June 3 1989	Template:Age in days
43	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Kazuo Tanikawa.19830822 (cropped).jpg	Kazuo Tanikawa	June 3 1989	August 10, 1989	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color"|	Sōsuke Uno
44	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Masao Goto	August 10, 1989	February 28, 1990	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan="4" |	Toshiki Kaifu
45	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Shin Hasegawa	February 28, 1990	September 13, 1990	Template:Age in days
46	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Seiroku Kajiyama.jpg	Seiroku Kajiyama	September 13, 1990	December 29, 1990	Template:Age in days
47	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Megumi Sato	December 29, 1990	November 5, 1991	Template:Age in days
48	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Takashi Tawara	November 5, 1991	December 12, 1992	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan="2" |	Kiichi Miyazawa
49	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Minister of Jastice, Masaharu Gotōda.png	Masaharu Gotōda	December 12, 1992	August 9, 1993	Template:Age in days
50	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Mikazuki Akira.jpg	Akira Mikazuki	August 9, 1993	April 28, 1994	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color"|	Morihiro Hosokawa
51	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Shigeto Nagano	April 28, 1994	May 8, 1994	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan="2" |	Tsutomu Hata
52	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Hiroshi Nakai.jpg	Hiroshi Nakai	May 8, 1994	June 30, 1994	Template:Age in days
53	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Isao Maeda	June 30, 1994	August 8, 1995	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan="3" |	Tomiichi Murayama
54	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Tomoharu Tazawa	August 8, 1995	October 8, 1995	Template:Age in days
55	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Hiroshi Miyazawa	October 8, 1995	January 11, 1996	Template:Age in days
56	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Ritsuko Nagao	January 11, 1996	November 7, 1996	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan="3" |	Ryutaro Hashimoto
57	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Isao Matsuura.jpg	Isao Matsuura	November 7, 1996	September 11, 1997	Template:Age in days
58	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Kōkichi Shimoinaba.jpg	Kokichi Shimoinaba	September 11, 1997	July 30, 1998	Template:Age in days
59	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Shōzaburō Nakamura.jpg	Shozaburo Nakamura	July 30, 1998	March 8, 1999	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan="3" |	Keizō Obuchi
60	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Takao Jinnouchi.jpg	Takao Jinnouchi	March 8, 1999	October 5, 1999	Template:Age in days
61	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan="2" |	File:Hideo Usui.jpg	Hideo Usui	October 5, 1999	July 4, 2000	Template:Age in days
	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan="3" |						Yoshirō Mori
62	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Okiharu Yasuoka 2000704.jpg	Okiharu Yasuoka	July 4, 2000	December 5, 2000	Template:Age in days
63	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Masahiko Komura 1996.jpg	Masahiko Kōmura	December 5, 2000	April 26, 2001	Template:Age in days
64	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Mayumi Moriyama.jpg	Mayumi Moriyama	April 26, 2001	September 22, 2003	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan=4|	Junichiro Koizumi
65	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Daizō Nozawa.jpg	Daizō Nozawa	September 22, 2003	September 27, 2004	Template:Age in days
66	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Chieko Nōno.jpg	Chieko Nōno	September 27, 2004	October 31, 2005	Template:Age in days
67	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Seiken Sugiura, Minister of Justice.jpg	Seiken Sugiura	October 31, 2005	September 26, 2006	Template:Age in days
68	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Jinen Nagase 200609.jpg	Jinen Nagase	September 26, 2006	August 27, 2007	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan=2|	Shinzo Abe
69	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan=2|	File:Official portrait of Kunio Hatoyama 2008.jpg	Kunio Hatoyama	August 27, 2007	August 2, 2008	Template:Age in days
	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan=2|						Yasuo Fukuda
70	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Okiharu Yasuoka 2000704.jpg	Okiharu Yasuoka	August 2, 2008	September 24, 2008	Template:Age in days
71	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Eisuke Mori.jpg	Eisuke Mori	September 24, 2008	September 16, 2009	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Taro Aso
72	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan=2|	File:Chiba Keiko.jpg	Keiko Chiba	September 16, 2009	September 7, 2010	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Yukio Hatoyama
	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan=4|						Naoto Kan
73	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Minoru Yanagida.jpg	Minoru Yanagida	September 7, 2010	November 22, 2010	Template:Age in days
74	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Yoshito Sengoku 20100917.jpg	Yoshito Sengoku	November 22, 2010	January 14, 2011	Template:Age in days
75	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Satsuki Eda MOJ (cropped).jpg	Satsuki Eda	January 14, 2011	September 2, 2011	Template:Age in days
76	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Hideo Hiraoka.jpg	Hideo Hiraoka	September 2, 2011	January 13, 2012	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan=5|	Yoshihiko Noda
77	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Toshio Ogawa 201101.jpg	Toshio Ogawa	January 13, 2012	June 4, 2012	Template:Age in days
78	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Makoto Taki 2004.jpg	Makoto Taki	June 4, 2012	October 1, 2012	Template:Age in days
79	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Tanaka Keishuu 201210.jpg	Keishu Tanaka	October 1, 2012	October 23, 2012	Template:Age in days
80 (78)	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Makoto Taki 2004.jpg	Makoto Taki	October 23, 2012	December 26, 2012	Template:Age in days
81	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Tanigaki Sadakazu 1-2.jpg	Sadakazu Tanigaki	December 26, 2012	September 3, 2014	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan=9|	Shinzo Abe
82	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Midori Matsushima 20140903.jpg	Midori Matsushima	September 3, 2014	October 20, 2014	Template:Age in days
83	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Yōko Kamikawa 20141021.jpg	Yōko Kamikawa	October 20, 2014	October 7, 2015	Template:Age in days
84	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Mitsuhide Iwaki 20151007.jpg	Mitsuhide Iwaki	October 7, 2015	August 3, 2016	Template:Age in days
85	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Katsutoshi Kaneda.jpg	Katsutoshi Kaneda	August 3, 2016	August 3, 2017	Template:Age in days
86 (83)	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Yōko Kamikawa 20141021.jpg	Yōko Kamikawa	August 3, 2017	October 2, 2018	Template:Age in days
87	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Takashi Yamashita (cropped).jpg	Takashi Yamashita	October 2, 2018	September 11, 2019	Template:Age in days
88	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Kawaikatsuyuki.jpg	Katsuyuki Kawai	September 11, 2019	October 31, 2019	Template:Age in days
89	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Masako Mori 20170510.jpg	Masako Mori	October 31, 2019	September 16, 2020	Template:Age in days
90 (83)	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Yōko Kamikawa 20141021.jpg	Yōko Kamikawa	September 16, 2020	October 4, 2021	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color"|	Yoshihide Suga
91	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Yoshihisa Furukawa 20211004 (cropped).jpg	Yoshihisa Furukawa	October 4, 2021	10 August 2022	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color"rowspan=4|	Fumio Kishida
92	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Yasuhiro Hanashi 20160212.jpg	Yasuhiro Hanashi	10 August 2022	11 November 2022	Template:Age in days
93	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Ken Saitō 20221111 (cropped).png	Ken Saitō	November 11, 2022	September 13, 2023	Template:Age in days
94	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Ryūji Koizumi 20111227.jpg	Ryuji Koizumi	September 13, 2023	October 1, 2024	Template:Age in days
95	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Hideki Makihara 20241001 (cropped 2).jpg	Hideki Makihara	October 1, 2024	November 11, 2024	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color" rowspan="2"|	Shigeru Ishiba
96	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Keisuke Suzuki, Minister of Justice (cropped).jpg	Keisuke Suzuki	November 11, 2024	October 21, 2025	Template:Age in days
97	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Hiroshi Hiraguchi (cropped).jpg	Hiroshi Hiraguchi	October 21, 2025	Incumbent	Template:Age in days	style="background-color: Template:Party color"|	Sanae Takaichi

References

<references/>

{{#invoke:Navbox|navbox}}