The First Koizumi Cabinet governed Japan from April 2001 until November 2003 under the leadership of 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 ...
, who came to power after winning a surprise victory in the
LDP presidential election of 2001. The cabinet continued the LDP-
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 ...
-
NCP
NCP may refer to:
Science and medicine
* Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia (a temporary name for COVID-19), an outbreak that was officially identified in late 2019.
* HIV-1 nucleocapsid protein 7 (NCp7), a target of zinc finger inhibitors
* Nucleosome ...
coalition and contained a record number of 5 women, including
Makiko Tanaka
is a Japanese politician. She is the daughter of former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka and his official wife Hana.
Early life
Tanaka attended high school at Germantown Friends School in the United States and graduated from Waseda University. She s ...
as the first female Foreign Minister. Several ministers from the previous Mori Administration remained in office to ensure the continuity and stability of government. Unusually for an LDP leader, Koizumi chose his cabinet himself and personally asked ministers to join the government, unlike previous practice where party factional leaders often chose government posts.
Koizumi administration
Koizumi took office at a time of prolonged economic difficulties for Japan after the first "
Lost Decade", including a banking sector affected by "bad loans". His policies promised bold structural reforms to economic, administrative and social policy using the slogans "reform with no sacred areas" and "without structural reforms there can be no economic recovery", explaining that he expected the country to endure short-term hardship, including higher unemployment, to make longer-term economic gains. Despite these promises of initial economic difficulties, the Koizumi cabinet enjoyed record popularity during its first year (reaching 90 percent in some polls), and the LDP gained several seats in the
June 2001 upper house elections.
Koizumi's popularity declined significantly in early 2002 after he sacked Tanaka for disloyalty and for feuding with bureaucrats, and a series of scandals relating to the agriculture and foreign ministries came to light. In response, Koizumi ordered a quickening of the pace in terms of structural reform plans and made a highly publicised visit to North Korea in the autumn to discuss
abducted Japanese citizens, which led to a recovery in his poll ratings. The first cabinet reshuffle then took place in September 2002 and did not bring about any major personnel changes, but did remove Financial Services Minister
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 Koizumi felt was too timid on economic reform.
The second cabinet reshuffle took place in September 2003, following Koizumi's re-election as LDP leader by a large margin, and involved substantial changes including the promotion of the reformist
Sadakazu Tanigaki
is a Japanese politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives from 1983 to 2016, as Minister of Finance from 2003 to 2006, as President of the Liberal Democratic Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2009 to 2012, as Minist ...
to Finance Minister. Despite this, the key figures of Chief Cabinet Secretary
Yasuo Fukuda
is a former Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2007 to 2008. He was previously the longest-serving Chief Cabinet Secretary in Japanese history, serving in that role from 2000 to 2004 under Prime Ministers Yoshirō M ...
and Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister
Heizō Takenaka
is a Japanese economist, retired politician, and political activist last serving as Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications and Minister of State for Privatization of the Postal Services in the cabinet of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizum ...
were kept in post. Koizumi then dissolved the Diet and called
general elections in November 2003, which returned his coalition to office and led to the formation of the
Second Koizumi Cabinet
The Second Koizumi Cabinet was the cabinet of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi during his second term from November 2003 to September 2005. The cabinet was formed after the coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), Liberal Democr ...
. The first Koizumi cabinet was the last to include the
New Conservative Party New Conservative Party (or similar names) may refer to:
* New Conservative Party (UK), 1960–1962
* New Conservative Group, Australia, 1991–1992
* New Conservative Party (Japan), 2000–2003
* New Zealand Conservative Party, 1996-c.1998
* New C ...
as a coalition partner, which had declined in strength since its founding in April 2000 and finally merged with the LDP at Koizumi's suggestion after the 2003 election.
Election of the Prime Minister
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
Changes
* January 30, 2002 - Foreign Minister
Makiko Tanaka
is a Japanese politician. She is the daughter of former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka and his official wife Hana.
Early life
Tanaka attended high school at Germantown Friends School in the United States and graduated from Waseda University. She s ...
was dismissed following a series of leaks and public feuds with Foreign Ministry bureaucrats. Prime Minister Koizumi temporarily took over her duties until February 1, when Environment Minister
Yoriko Kawaguchi
is a Japanese politician. Born in Tokyo, she holds a BA in international relations from the University of Tokyo, and an MPhil in economics from Yale University, where she became a member of President's Council on International Activities. Curre ...
was promoted as replacement. The senior Foreign Ministry official, Vice Minister
Yoshiji Nogami was also removed.
* February 8, 2002 - Shortly after becoming Foreign Minister, Kawaguchi relinquished the Environment portfolio and was replaced by Hiroshi Ōki.
First Reshuffled Cabinet
Changes
* December 25, 2002 - The Conservative Party was dissolved and reformed as the
New Conservative Party New Conservative Party (or similar names) may refer to:
* New Conservative Party (UK), 1960–1962
* New Conservative Group, Australia, 1991–1992
* New Conservative Party (Japan), 2000–2003
* New Zealand Conservative Party, 1996-c.1998
* New C ...
when some members of the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
defected and allied with the Conservatives. The party continued in coalition.
* April 1, 2003 - Agriculture Minister
Tadamori Oshima Tadamori is a Japanese surname and masculine given name.
Kanji
Kanji
are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system durin ...
resigned due to a bribery scandal involving a former aide, and was replaced with
Yoshiyuki Kamei
was a Japanese politician and member of the House of Representatives of Japan representing Kanagawa Prefecture.
Biography
Yoshiyuki Kamei was born on 30 April 1936. He graduated from Keio University in 1962.
He was Ministry of Agricultu ...
.
Second Reshuffled Cabinet
Changes
* November 11, 2003 - After poor results in the general election, the
New Conservative Party New Conservative Party (or similar names) may refer to:
* New Conservative Party (UK), 1960–1962
* New Conservative Group, Australia, 1991–1992
* New Conservative Party (Japan), 2000–2003
* New Zealand Conservative Party, 1996-c.1998
* New C ...
accepted Koizumi's suggestion that it merge with the LDP. The NCP formally dissolved on November 21.
References
External links
Lionheart or Paper Tiger? A First-Term Koizumi Retrospective(Paper assessing Koizumi's first term 2001-2003)
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):
Koizumi Administration
{{DEFAULTSORT:First Koizumi Cabinet
Cabinet of Japan
2001 establishments in Japan
2003 disestablishments in Japan
Cabinets established in 2001
Cabinets disestablished in 2003
2001 in Japanese politics