The Third Abe cabinet governed Japan under the leadership of the prime minister,

Shinzō Abe Shinzo Abe ( ; ja, 安倍晋三, 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 (LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 20 ...

, from December 2014 to November 2017. 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 coalit ...

(which had changed its name from "New Komeito" in the 2012–2014 term) 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 (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (, '' Sangiin''). Both houses are directly elected under a paral ...

. Following the 2017 general election, the Third Abe cabinet was dissolved on November 1, 2017, and it was replaced by the Fourth Abe cabinet.

Background

Following the snap "Abenomics Dissolution" and general election of 2014, Abe was re-elected by the Diet and chose to retain all the ministers from his previous cabinet except the defense minister,

Akinori Eto is a Japanese politician and the former defense minister of Japan. Overview Eto is a politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Towada, Aomori, he atte ...

, who had been involved in a money scandal. Abe explained that he aimed to avoid the disruption of another major personnel change only three months after the September cabinet reshuffle. Abe conducted three reshuffles of his third administration. The first took place in October 2015 following his re-election to another three-year term as president of the LDP and the launch of his "Abenomics 2.0" policies. The second reshuffle occurred in August 2016, following the victory of the ruling coalition in the July 2016 upper house elections, the first time since 1989 that the LDP held an outright majority in 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, or ...

. The third reshuffle occurred in August 2017.

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

Cabinet

Changes

* February 23, 2015 – The agriculture minister,

Koya Nishikawa is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Shioya District, Tochigi he attended Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology as both undergra ...

, resigned because of a campaign finance scandal. His immediate predecessor,

Yoshimasa Hayashi is a Japanese politician who currently serves as Minister for Foreign Affairs since November 2021. A member of the Liberal Democratic Party, he also serves in the House of Representatives for the Yamaguchi 3rd district since 2021. Early life ...

, was recalled to replace him. * June 25, 2015 – A new position of minister for the Olympics was created.

Toshiaki Endo is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Kaminoyama, Yamagata and graduate of Chuo University (where he played Rugby), he was elected to th ...

was appointed the inaugural minister.

First reshuffled cabinet

Changes

* January 28, 2016 – The economic revitalization minister,

Akira Amari is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and a member of the lower house representing the Minami Kanto Bloc. Personal life Amari is a native of Atsugi, Kanagawa, where he attended Kanagawa Prefectural Atsugi High School ...

, resignedbecause of a bribery scandal and was replaced with Nobuteru Ishihara. * July 2016 – The justice minister, Mitsuhide Iwaki, and the Okinawa minister, Aiko Shimajiri, lost their seats in the House of Councillors election but remained in office as ministers until the August cabinet reshuffle.

Second reshuffled cabinet

Changes

* April 26, 2017 – The reconstruction minister, Masahiro Imamura, was dismissed because of comments he made about the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 Japan Standard Time, JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) Submarine earthquake, undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peni ...

and was replaced by

Masayoshi Yoshino is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Iwaki, Fukushima and graduate of Waseda University, he was elected to the first of his three ter ...

. * July 28, 2017 – The defense minister,

Tomomi Inada is a Japanese lawyer and politician serving as a member of the Japanese House of Representatives, representing the 1st Fukui Prefecture since September 2005. She previously served as the 14th Japanese Minister of Defense from August 2016 to Jul ...

, resigned.

Third reshuffled cabinet

References

External links

Pages at the Kantei (English website):
List of Ministers December 2014 – October 2015
{{DEFAULTSORT:Third Abe cabinet Cabinet of Japan 2014 establishments in Japan 2017 disestablishments in Japan Cabinets established in 2014 Cabinets disestablished in 2017 2014 in Japanese politics Shinzo Abe