Minister of Defense (Japan)
| Minister of Defense
防衛大臣 | |
|---|---|
 Standard of the Minister of Defense | |
| Ministry of Defense | |
| Style | His Excellency |
| Member of | Cabinet National Security Council Defense Council |
| Reports to | The Prime Minister |
| Appointer | The Prime Minister subject to formal attestation by the Emperor |
| Precursor | Director General of the Defense Agency |
| Formation | 9 January 2007 |
| First holder | Fumio Kyuma |
| Deputy | State Minister of Defense |
| Salary | ¥20,916,000 |
The Minister of Defense (防衛大臣, Bōei Daijin), or Bōei-shō (防衛相), is a member of the Japanese cabinet and is the leader of the Japanese Ministry of Defense.
The minister of defense is appointed by the Prime Minister and is a member of the National Security Council.
List of ministers of defense (2007–present)
| Minister of Defense | Term of office | Prime Minister | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Portrait | Name | Took office | Left office | Time in office | |||
| 1 |  |
Fumio Kyuma | January 9, 2007 | July 4, 2007 | 176 days | Shinzō Abe | ||
| 2 |  |
Yuriko Koike | July 4, 2007 | August 27, 2007 | 54 days | |||
| 3 |  |
Masahiko Kōmura | August 27, 2007 | September 26, 2007 | 30 days | |||
| 4 |  |
Shigeru Ishiba | September 26, 2007 | August 2, 2008 | 311 days | Yasuo Fukuda | ||
| 5 |  |
Yoshimasa Hayashi | August 2, 2008 | September 24, 2008 | 53 days | |||
| 6 |  |
Yasukazu Hamada | September 24, 2008 | September 16, 2009 | 357 days | Taro Aso | ||
| 7 |  |
Toshimi Kitazawa | September 16, 2009 | September 2, 2011 | 1 year, 351 days | Yukio Hatoyama | ||
| Naoto Kan | ||||||||
| 8 |  |
Yasuo Ichikawa | September 2, 2011 | January 13, 2012 | 133 days | Yoshihiko Noda | ||
| 9 |  |
Naoki Tanaka | January 13, 2012 | June 4, 2012 | 143 days | |||
| 10 |  |
Satoshi Morimoto | June 4, 2012 | December 26, 2012 | 205 days | |||
| 11 |  |
Itsunori Onodera | December 26, 2012 | September 3, 2014 | 1 year, 251 days | Shinzō Abe | ||
| 12 |  |
Akinori Eto | September 3, 2014 | December 24, 2014 | 112 days | |||
| 13 |  |
Gen Nakatani | December 24, 2014 | August 3, 2016 | 1 year, 223 days | |||
| 14 | .jpg) |
Tomomi Inada | August 3, 2016 | July 28, 2017 | 359 days | |||
| – | .jpg) |
Fumio Kishida (Acting) |
July 28, 2017 | August 3, 2017 | 6 days | |||
| 15 (11) |
_(cropped).jpg) |
Itsunori Onodera | August 3, 2017 | October 2, 2018 | 1 year, 60 days | |||
| 16 | .jpg) |
Takeshi Iwaya | October 2, 2018 | September 11, 2019 | 344 days | |||
| 17 | .jpg) |
Tarō Kōno | September 11, 2019 | September 16, 2020 | 1 year, 5 days | |||
| 18 |  |
Nobuo Kishi | September 16, 2020 | August 10, 2022 | 1 year, 328 days | Yoshihide Suga | ||
| Fumio Kishida | ||||||||
| 19 (6) |
 |
Yasukazu Hamada | August 10, 2022 | September 13, 2023 | 1 year, 34 days | |||
| 20 |  |
Minoru Kihara | September 13, 2023 | October 1, 2024 | 1 year, 18 days | |||
| 21 (13) |
 |
Gen Nakatani | October 1, 2024 | October 21, 2025 | 1 year, 20 days | Shigeru Ishiba | ||
| 22 | .jpg) |
Shinjirō Koizumi | October 21, 2025 | Incumbent | 251 days | Sanae Takaichi | ||