List of prime ministers of Japan by time in office

This is a list of prime ministers of Japan by time in office.

Notable lengths

Japan's three longest-serving prime ministers and three shortest-serving prime ministers, left to right:
Shinzo Abe, 8 years, 267 days; Katsura Tarō, 7 years, 330 days; and Eisaku Satō, 7 years, 242 days.
Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni, 54 days; Tsutomu Hata, 64 days; and Tanzan Ishibashi, 65 days.

Of the 64 past prime ministers, six served more than 5 years while twenty served less than a year. Itō Hirobumi became the first Japanese prime minister in 1885 and is the only person to have served on four separate occasions. Shinzo Abe is the longest-serving prime minister with over eight years on two separate occasions, while Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni is the shortest-serving at eight weeks. Katsura Tarō was the longest-serving prime minister in the Imperial period (1885–1947) and the only person to have served on three separate occasions.

List of office holders by tenure

•   Liberal Democratic (25)
•   Nonpartisan (9)
•    Military (Army) (6)
•   Rikken Seiyūkai (6)
•    Military (Navy) (5)
•   Taisei Yokusankai (4)
•   Democratic (1998–2016) (3)
•   Kenseikai (2)
•   Rikken Minseitō (2)
•   Socialist (2)
•   Kenseitō (1)
•    Rikken Dōshikai (1)
•    Imperial Family (1)
•   Liberal (1945–1948) (1)
•   Democratic (1947–1950) (1)
•   Democratic Liberal (1)
•   Liberal (1950–1955) (1)
•    Democratic (1954–1955) (1)
•   New (1)
•   Renewal (1)

Rank	Prime Minister			Party	Start	End	Tenure length (term)	Tenure length (total)	Reason for exit	Ref.
1			Shinzo Abe	Liberal Democratic	26 September 2006	26 September 2007	1 year, 1 day	8 years, 267 days	Resigned due to illness	[1]
					26 December 2012	16 September 2020	7 years, 266 days		Resigned due to illness
2			Katsura Tarō	Military (Army)	2 June 1901	7 January 1906	4 years, 220 days	7 years, 330 days	Resigned	[1]
					14 July 1908	30 August 1911	3 years, 48 days		Resigned
				Independent	21 December 1912	20 February 1913	62 days		Resigned
3			Eisaku Satō	Liberal Democratic	9 November 1964	7 July 1972	7 years, 242 days		Resigned	[1]
4			Itō Hirobumi	Independent	22 December 1885	30 April 1888	2 years, 131 days	7 years, 164 days	Resigned	[1]
					8 August 1892	31 August 1896	4 years, 24 days		Resigned
					12 January 1898	30 June 1898	170 days		Resigned
				Rikken Seiyūkai	19 October 1900	10 May 1901	204 days		Resigned
5			Shigeru Yoshida	Liberal	22 May 1946	24 May 1947	1 year, 3 days	7 years, 60 days	Defeated in election	[1]
				Democratic Liberal	15 October 1948	10 December 1954	6 years, 57 days		Resigned
				Liberal
6			Junichiro Koizumi	Liberal Democratic	26 April 2001	26 September 2006	5 years, 154 days		Resigned	[1]
7			Yasuhiro Nakasone	Liberal Democratic	27 November 1982	6 November 1987	4 years, 345 days		Resigned	[1]
8			Hayato Ikeda	Liberal Democratic	19 July 1960	9 November 1964	4 years, 114 days		Resigned due to illness	[1]
9			Saionji Kinmochi	Rikken Seiyūkai	7 January 1906	14 July 1908	2 years, 190 days	3 years, 304 days	Resigned	[1]
					30 August 1911	21 December 1912	1 year, 114 days		Resigned
10			Nobusuke Kishi	Liberal Democratic	31 January 1957	19 July 1960	3 years, 171 days		Resigned	[1]
11			Yamagata Aritomo	Military (Army)	24 December 1889	6 May 1891	1 year, 134 days	3 years, 115 days	Resigned	[1]
					8 November 1898	19 October 1900	1 year, 346 days		Resigned
12			Hara Takashi	Rikken Seiyūkai	29 September 1918	4 November 1921	3 years, 37 days		Assassinated	[1]
13			Fumio Kishida	Liberal Democratic	4 October 2021	1 October 2024	2 years, 364 days		Resigned	[1] [2]
14			Ōkuma Shigenobu	Kenseitō	30 June 1898	8 November 1898	132 days	2 years, 309 days	Resigned	[1]
				Rikken Dōshikai	16 April 1914	9 October 1916	2 years, 177 days		Resigned
15			Fumimaro Konoe	Independent	4 June 1937	5 January 1939	1 year, 216 days	2 years, 305 days	Resigned	[1]
				Independent	16 July 1940	18 October 1941	1 year, 95 days		Resigned
				Imperial Rule Assistance Association
16			Hideki Tojo	Imperial Rule Assistance Association	18 October 1941	22 July 1944	2 years, 279 days		Resigned	[1]
17			Matsukata Masayoshi	Independent	6 May 1891	8 August 1892	1 year, 95 days	2 years, 212 days	Resigned	[1]
					18 September 1896	12 January 1898	1 year, 117 days		Resigned
18			Ryutaro Hashimoto	Liberal Democratic	11 January 1996	30 July 1998	2 years, 201 days		Resigned	[1]
19			Kakuei Tanaka	Liberal Democratic	7 July 1972	9 December 1974	2 years, 156 days		Resigned	[1]
20			Zenkō Suzuki	Liberal Democratic	17 July 1980	27 November 1982	2 years, 134 days		Resigned	[1]
21			Toshiki Kaifu	Liberal Democratic	10 August 1989	5 November 1991	2 years, 88 days		Resigned	[1]
22			Tanaka Giichi	Rikken Seiyūkai	20 April 1927	2 July 1929	2 years, 74 days		Resigned	[1]
23			Saitō Makoto	Military (Navy)	26 May 1932	8 July 1934	2 years, 44 days		Resigned	[1]
24			Takeo Miki	Liberal Democratic	9 December 1974	24 December 1976	2 years, 16 days		Lack of majority after election	[1]
25			Ichirō Hatoyama	Japan Democratic	10 December 1954	23 December 1956	2 years, 14 days		Resigned	[1]
				Liberal Democratic
26			Terauchi Masatake	Military (Army)	9 October 1916	29 September 1918	1 year, 356 days		Resigned	[1]
27			Takeo Fukuda	Liberal Democratic	24 December 1976	7 December 1978	1 year, 349 days		Resigned	[1]
28			Wakatsuki Reijirō	Kenseikai	30 January 1926	20 April 1927	1 year, 81 days	1 year, 325 days	Resigned	[1]
				Rikken Minseitō	14 April 1931	13 December 1931	244 days		Resigned
29			Hamaguchi Osachi	Rikken Minseitō	2 July 1929	14 April 1931	1 year, 287 days		Resigned due to injury	[1]
30			Kiichi Miyazawa	Liberal Democratic	5 November 1991	9 August 1993	1 year, 278 days		Lack of majority after election	[1]
31			Keizō Obuchi	Liberal Democratic	30 July 1998	5 April 2000	1 year, 251 days		Resigned due to illness	[1]
32			Keisuke Okada	Military (Navy)	8 July 1934	9 March 1936	1 year, 246 days		Resigned	[1]
33			Katō Takaaki	Kenseikai	11 June 1924	28 January 1926	1 year, 232 days		Died	[1]
34			Noboru Takeshita	Liberal Democratic	6 November 1987	3 June 1989	1 year, 210 days		Resigned	[1]
35			Tomiichi Murayama	Socialist	30 June 1994	11 January 1996	1 year, 196 days		Resigned	[1]
36			Masayoshi Ōhira	Liberal Democratic	7 December 1978	12 June 1980	1 year, 189 days		Died	[1]
37			Yamamoto Gonnohyōe	Military (Navy)	20 February 1913	16 April 1914	1 year, 56 days	1 year, 184 days	Resigned	[1]
					2 September 1923	7 January 1924	128 days		Resigned
38			Kuroda Kiyotaka	Military (Army)	30 April 1888	25 October 1889	1 year, 179 days		Resigned	[1]
39			Yoshihiko Noda	Democratic	2 September 2011	26 December 2012	1 year, 116 days		Defeated in election	[1]
40			Naoto Kan	Democratic	8 June 2010	2 September 2011	1 year, 87 days		Resigned	[1]
41			Katō Tomosaburō	Military (Navy)	12 June 1922	24 August 1923	1 year, 74 days		Died	[1]
42			Yoshirō Mori	Liberal Democratic	5 April 2000	26 April 2001	1 year, 22 days		Resigned	[1]
43			Yoshihide Suga	Liberal Democratic	16 September 2020	4 October 2021	1 year, 19 days		Resigned	[1]
44			Yasuo Fukuda	Liberal Democratic	26 September 2007	24 September 2008	365 days		Resigned	[1]
45			Tarō Asō	Liberal Democratic	24 September 2008	16 September 2009	358 days		Defeated in election	[1]
46			Kōki Hirota	Independent	9 March 1936	2 February 1937	331 days		Resigned	[1]
47			Tetsu Katayama	Socialist	24 May 1947	10 March 1948	292 days		Resigned	[1]
48			Yukio Hatoyama	Democratic	16 September 2009	8 June 2010	266 days		Resigned	[1]
49			Morihiro Hosokawa	New	9 August 1993	28 April 1994	263 days		Resigned	[1]
50			Kuniaki Koiso	Imperial Rule Assistance Association	22 July 1944	7 April 1945	260 days		Resigned	[1]
51			Hiranuma Kiichirō	Independent	5 January 1939	30 August 1939	238 days		Resigned	[1]
52			Kijūrō Shidehara	Independent	9 October 1945	22 May 1946	226 days		Defeated in election	[1]
53			Hitoshi Ashida	Democratic	10 March 1948	15 October 1948	220 days		Resigned	[1]
54			Takahashi Korekiyo	Rikken Seiyūkai	13 November 1921	12 June 1922	212 days		Resigned	[1]
55			Mitsumasa Yonai	Military (Navy)	16 January 1940	22 July 1940	189 days		Resigned	[1]
56			Shigeru Ishiba	Liberal Democratic	1 October 2024	Incumbent	157 days [a]		Incumbent
57			Kiyoura Keigo	Independent	7 January 1924	11 June 1924	157 days		Defeated in election	[1]
58			Inukai Tsuyoshi	Rikken Seiyūkai	13 December 1931	15 May 1932	155 days		Assassinated	[1]
59			Nobuyuki Abe	Military (Army)	30 August 1939	16 January 1940	140 days		Resigned	[1]
60			Kantarō Suzuki	Imperial Rule Assistance Association	7 April 1945	17 August 1945	133 days		Resigned	[1]
				Independent
61			Senjūrō Hayashi	Military (Army)	2 February 1937	4 June 1937	123 days		Resigned	[1]
62			Sōsuke Uno	Liberal Democratic	3 June 1989	10 August 1989	69 days		Resigned	[1]
63			Tanzan Ishibashi	Liberal Democratic	23 December 1956	25 February 1957	65 days		Resigned due to illness	[1]
64			Tsutomu Hata	Renewal	28 April 1994	30 June 1994	64 days		Resigned	[1]
65			Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni	Imperial Family	17 August 1945	9 October 1945	54 days		Resigned	[1]

See also

• List of prime ministers of Japan
• Lifespan timeline of prime ministers of Japan
• List of prime ministers of Japan by education
• List of prime ministers of Japan by home prefecture

Notes

1. As of 7 March 2025

References

1. "List of Successive Prime Ministers | Prime Minister's Office of Japan". japan.kantei.go.jp. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
2. "The Cabinet". Prime Minister's Office of Japan . Retrieved 8 September 2024.