The First Abe Cabinet governed Japan under the leadership of Prime Minister

Shinzo Abe Shinzo Abe ( ; ja, 安倍晋三, Hepburn romanization, Hepburn: , ; 21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), President of the Lib ...

from September 2006 to September 2007. The government was a coalition between the Liberal Democratic Party and the

Komeito , formerly New Komeito and abbreviated NKP, is a conservative political party in Japan founded by lay members of the Buddhist Japanese new religious movement Soka Gakkai in 1964. Since 2012, it has served in government as the junior coalitio ...

and controlled both the upper and lower houses of the

National Diet The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (Japan), House of Councillors (, ...

.The cabinet faced policy issues regarding government debts and the shrinking population. At a joint press conference

Hakuo Yanagisawa is a member of the Liberal Democratic Party. He was the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare in Japan (2006–2007), and was a member of the House of Representatives from 1980 to 2009. His constituency was Shizuoka Prefecture 3rd District. ...

, who was appointed Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare, spoke to a number of issues including reform of the Social Insurance Agency, measures against the decline in the birthrate, the unification of the Employees Pension Plan and the Mutual Pension Plan for public servants, and revision of labor-related laws. At the onset Prime Minister Abe's approval rating was 70%, but dropped to 30% prior to the 2007

House of Councilors The is the upper house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives is the lower house. The House of Councillors is the successor to the pre-war House of Peers. If the two houses disagree on matters of the budget, treaties, or ...

election, which resulted in the LDP losing the Upper House to the

Democratic Party of Japan The was a centristThe Democratic Party of Japan was widely described as centrist: * * * * * * * to centre-left liberal or social-liberal political party in Japan from 1998 to 2016. The party's origins lie in the previous Democratic Part ...

and becoming the second party for the first time in its history. Abe subsequently resigned, citing health reasons. Abe was criticized for not explaining his thinking enough to show where Japan was going.

Background

Abe was elected to the House of Representatives in 1993, and by 1999 was serving as Director of the Committee on Health and Welfare, and as Director of the Social Affairs Division of the Liberal Democratic Party. In 2003, Abe was elected Secretary General of the Liberal Democratic Party, and two years later became Chief Cabinet Secretary. Abe took office as the first Japanese Prime Minister born in the postwar period.

Election of the Prime Minister

Abe succeeded Prime Minister

Junichiro Koizumi Junichiro Koizumi (; , ''Koizumi Jun'ichirō'' ; born 8 January 1942) is a former Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2001 to 2006. He retired from politics in 2009. He is ...

. He maintained Koizumi's emphasis on the U.S.-Japan alliance as the basis of national defense, but he wanted Japan to be a more equal partner. One goal of his administration was to revise Japan's constitution to normalize the use of military force.

Lists of Ministers

R = Member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

C = Member of the

House of Councillors The is the upper house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives is the lower house. The House of Councillors is the successor to the pre-war House of Peers. If the two houses disagree on matters of the budget, treaties, ...

Cabinet

Abe announced his Cabinet on September 26, 2006. The largest Mori

faction Faction or factionalism may refer to: Politics * Political faction, a group of people with a common political purpose * Free and Independent Faction, a Romanian political party * Faction (''Planescape''), a political faction in the game ''Planes ...

in the Liberal Democratic Party received the most appointments.

Changes

* December 28, 2006 – Regulatory Reform Genichiro Sata resigned and was replaced by

Yoshimi Watanabe is a Japanese politician. He was formerly a member of the Liberal Democratic Party and later the founder of Your Party, after which he became a member of Nippon Ishin no Kai until 2019 when he then became an independent politician. He was a memb ...

. * January 9, 2007 – A new position of Defense Minister was created,

Fumio Kyūma is a Japanese politician who has served in the Diet of Japan since 1980. Kyuma graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1964 and worked for the Ministry of Agriculture. He was elected to the Nagasaki Prefectural Assembly in 1971 serving three ...

was appointed the inaugural minister. * May 28, 2007 – Agriculture Minister

Toshikatsu Matsuoka was a Japanese politician who served as the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries from 2006 until his suicide in 2007 amid a financial scandal. Early life and education He was born in Aso, Kumamoto, Kyūshū on 25 February 1945. His ...

committed suicide and was replaced by

Norihiko Akagi is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Makabe District, Ibaraki and graduate of the University of Tokyo, he worked at the Ministry of Ag ...

. * July 3, 2007 – Defense Minister

resigned and was replaced by

Yuriko Koike is a Japanese politician who currently serves as the Governor of Tokyo since 2016. She graduated from the American University in Cairo in 1976 and was a member of the House of Representatives of Japan from 1993 until 2016, when she resigned to ...

. * August 1, 2007 – Agriculture Minister

committed suicide and was replaced by

Masatoshi Wakabayashi is a Japanese politician who is a member of Liberal Democratic Party. Career Wakabayashi became the third Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries appointed in Shinzō Abe's first cabinet after Toshikatsu Matsuoka killed himself as ...

Reshuffled Cabinet

Changes

* September 3, 2007 – Agriculture Minister

Takehiko Endo was a Japanese politician who was a member of Liberal Democratic Party, serving in the House of Representatives in the Diet of Japan. On September 3, 2007, due to the financial scandal, he resigned as Minister of Agriculture just eight days a ...

resigned and was replaced by his immediate predecessor

References

External links

Pages at the

Kantei The Prime Minister's Official Residence is the official workplace and residence of the Prime Minister of Japan. It is commonly referred to as , , or simply . Located at 2-3-1 Nagata-chō, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100–8968, it is diagonally adjacen ...

(English website):
Abe Administration

{{DEFAULTSORT:First Abe Cabinet Shinzo Abe Cabinet of Japan 2006 establishments in Japan 2007 disestablishments in Japan Cabinets established in 2006 Cabinets disestablished in 2007