Chief Cabinet Secretary

Chief Cabinet Secretary of Japan 内閣官房長官 Naikaku-kanbō-chōkan
Emblem of the Government of Japan
Incumbent Minoru Kihara since 21 October 2025
Cabinet Secretariat
Style	Mr. Secretary
Member of	Cabinet National Security Council
Reports to	The prime minister
Appointer	The prime minister attested to by the emperor
Term length	No fixed term
Precursor	Secretary-General of the Cabinet
Inaugural holder	Jōji Hayashi
Formation	3 May 1947;78 years ago (1947-05-03)
Succession	Second
Deputy	Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary
Salary	¥20,916,000
Website	http://www.cas.go.jp/

The chief cabinet secretary of Japan (内閣官房長官, Naikaku-kanbō-chōkan) is a member of the cabinet and is the leader and chief executive of the Cabinet Secretariat of Japan. ^[1] The chief cabinet secretary coordinates the policies of ministries and agencies in the executive branch, ^[2] 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. ^[3] 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.^{[ 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 内閣書記官長 (naikaku-shokikan-chō). 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. ^[4]

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

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

   Liberal (1945)
   Socialist
   Democratic (1947)
   Democratic Liberal
   Liberal (1950)
   Democratic (1954)
   Liberal Democratic

Chief Cabinet Secretary			Term of office			Prime Minister
Portrait		Name	Took office	Left office	Days
		Jōji Hayashi	May 3, 1947	May 24, 1947	21		Shigeru Yoshida
		Suehiro Nishio	June 1, 1947	March 10, 1948	283		Tetsu Katayama
		Gizō Tomabechi	March 10, 1948	October 15, 1948	219		Hitoshi Ashida
		Eisaku Satō [n 1]	October 17, 1948	February 16, 1949	122		Shigeru Yoshida
		Kaneshichi Masuda	February 16, 1949	May 6, 1950	444
		Katsuo Okazaki	May 6, 1950	December 26, 1951	599
		Shigeru Hori	December 26, 1951	October 30, 1952	309
		Taketora Ogata	October 30, 1952	May 21, 1953	203
		Kenji Fukunaga	May 21, 1953	December 10, 1954	568
		Ryutarō Nemoto	December 10, 1954	November 22, 1955	744		Ichirō Hatoyama
			November 22, 1955	December 23, 1956
		Hirohide Ishida	December 12, 1956	July 10, 1957	210		Tanzan Ishibashi
							Nobusuke Kishi
		Kiichi Aichi	July 10, 1957	June 12, 1958	337
		Munenori Akagi	June 12, 1958	June 18, 1959	371
		Etsusaburō Shiina	June 18, 1959	July 19, 1960	397
		Masayoshi Ōhira [n 2]	July 19, 1960	July 18, 1962	729		Hayato Ikeda
		Yasumi Kurogane	July 18, 1962	July 18, 1964	731
		Zenkō Suzuki [n 3]	July 18, 1964	November 9, 1964	114
		Tomisaburō Hashimoto	November 9, 1964	August 1, 1966	630		Eisaku Satō
		Kiichi Aichi	August 1, 1966	December 3, 1966	124
		Kenji Fukunaga	December 3, 1966	June 22, 1967	201
		Toshio Kimura	June 22, 1967	November 30, 1968	527
		Shigeru Hori	November 30, 1968	July 5, 1971	947
		Noboru Takeshita [n 4]	July 5, 1971	July 7, 1972	368
		Susumu Nikaidō	July 7, 1972	November 11, 1974	857		Kakuei Tanaka
		Noboru Takeshita [n 4]	November 11, 1974	December 9, 1974	28
		Ichitarō Ide	December 9, 1974	December 24, 1976	746		Takeo Miki
		Sunao Sonoda	December 24, 1976	November 28, 1977	339		Takeo Fukuda
		Shintaro Abe	November 28, 1977	December 7, 1978	374
		Rokusuke Tanaka	December 7, 1978	November 9, 1979	337		Masayoshi Ōhira
		Masayoshi Ito [n 5]	November 9, 1979	July 17, 1980	251
							Himself (Acting)
		Kiichi Miyazawa [n 6]	July 17, 1980	November 27, 1982	863		Zenkō Suzuki
		Masaharu Gotōda	November 27, 1982	December 27, 1983	395		Yasuhiro Nakasone
		Takao Fujinami	December 27, 1983	December 28, 1985	732
		Masaharu Gotōda	December 28, 1985	November 6, 1987	678
		Keizō Obuchi [n 7]	November 6, 1987	January 7, 1989	428		Noboru Takeshita

Heisei era

   Liberal Democratic
   Japan New Party
   New Party Sakigake
   Japan Renewal Party
   Socialist
   Democratic

Chief Cabinet Secretary			Term of office			Prime Minister
Portrait		Name	Took office	Left office	Days
		Keizō Obuchi [n 7]	January 8, 1989	June 3, 1989	147		Noboru Takeshita
		Masajuro Shiokawa	June 3, 1989	August 10, 1989	68		Sōsuke Uno
		Tokuo Yamashita	August 10, 1989	August 26, 1989	16		Toshiki Kaifu
		Mayumi Moriyama	August 26, 1989	February 28, 1990	186
		Misoji Sakamoto  [ ja ]	February 28, 1990	November 5, 1991	615
		Koichi Kato	November 5, 1991	December 12, 1992	403		Kiichi Miyazawa
		Yōhei Kōno	December 12, 1992	August 9, 1993	240
		Masayoshi Takemura	August 9, 1993	April 28, 1994	262		Morihiro Hosokawa
		Hiroshi Kumagai  [ ja ]	April 28, 1994	June 30, 1994	63		Tsutomu Hata
		Kozo Igarashi	June 30, 1994	August 8, 1995	404		Tomiichi Murayama
		Koken Nosaka	August 8, 1995	January 11, 1996	156
		Seiroku Kajiyama	January 11, 1996	September 11, 1997	609		Ryutaro Hashimoto
		Kanezo Muraoka  [ ja ]	September 11, 1997	July 30, 1998	322
		Hiromu Nonaka	July 30, 1998	October 10, 1999	432		Keizo Obuchi
		Mikio Aoki	October 10, 1999	July 4, 2000	273
							Yoshiro Mori
		Hidenao Nakagawa	July 4, 2000	October 27, 2000	115
		Yasuo Fukuda [n 8]	October 27, 2000	May 7, 2004	1380
							Junichiro Koizumi
		Hiroyuki Hosoda	May 7, 2004	October 31, 2005	450
		Shinzo Abe [n 9]	October 31, 2005	September 26, 2006	330
		Yasuhisa Shiozaki	September 26, 2006	August 27, 2007	335		Shinzo Abe
		Kaoru Yosano	August 27, 2007	September 26, 2007	30
		Nobutaka Machimura	September 26, 2007	September 24, 2008	364		Yasuo Fukuda
		Takeo Kawamura	September 24, 2008	September 16, 2009	357		Taro Aso
		Hirofumi Hirano	September 16, 2009	June 8, 2010	265		Yukio Hatoyama
		Yoshito Sengoku	June 8, 2010	January 4, 2011	210		Naoto Kan
		Yukio Edano	January 4, 2011	September 2, 2011	241
		Osamu Fujimura	September 2, 2011	December 26, 2012	481		Yoshihiko Noda
		Yoshihide Suga [n 10]	December 26, 2012	April 30, 2019	2316		Shinzo Abe

Reiwa era

   Liberal Democratic

Chief Cabinet Secretary			Term of office			Prime Minister
Portrait		Name	Took office	Left office	Days
		Yoshihide Suga [n 10]	May 1, 2019	September 16, 2020	504		Shinzo Abe
		Katsunobu Katō	September 16, 2020	October 4, 2021	383		Yoshihide Suga
		Hirokazu Matsuno	October 4, 2021	December 14, 2023	801		Fumio Kishida
		Yoshimasa Hayashi	December 14, 2023	October 1, 2024	292
			October 1, 2024	October 21, 2025	385		Shigeru Ishiba
		Minoru Kihara	October 21, 2025	Incumbent	0		Sanae Takaichi

See also

• White House Chief of Staff
• Chief Presidential Secretary

Notes

1. Later served as Prime Minister 1964-72
2. Later served as Prime Minister 1978-80
3. Later served as Prime Minister 1980-82
4. Later served as Prime Minister 1987-89
5. Served as Acting Prime Minister on the death of Ōhira, 12 June - 17 July 1980
6. Later served as Prime Minister 1991-93
7. Later served as Prime Minister 1998-2000
8. Later served as Prime Minister 2007-08.
9. Later served as Prime Minister 2006-07, 2012-20
10. Later served as Prime Minister 2020-21

References

1. Cabinet Law, Article 13.
2. Cabinet Law, Article 12, Paragraph 2, Item 4 and 5
3. Cabinet Law, Article 15
4. "Government strongman Suga set to become Japan's longest-serving chief Cabinet secretary". Japan Times. Jiji Press. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 3 December 2016.