The Naikaku Sōri Daijin Kantei (内閣総理大臣官邸) or Prime Minister's Office is the official workplace of the

Prime Minister of Japan The is the head of government of Japan. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Japan and has the ability to select and dismiss its ministers of state. The prime minister also serves as the commander-in-chief of the Japan Self-Defense Force ...

. It is commonly referred to as , or simply . Unlike many other famous offices or palaces of heads of states, such as the

Kremlin The Moscow Kremlin (also the Kremlin) is a fortified complex in Moscow, Russia. Located in the centre of the country's capital city, the Moscow Kremlin (fortification), Kremlin comprises five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Mosco ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

or the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, the Japanese Prime Minister's Office has no nickname. ''Naikaku Sōri Daijin Kantei'' literally translates to "Prime Minister's Office" in English. Located at 2-3-1 Nagata-chō,

Chiyoda-ku , known as Chiyoda City in English,
." ''City of Chiyoda''. Retrieved on December 28, 2008. is a S ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

100–8968, it is diagonally adjacent to the

National Diet Building The is the building where both houses of the National Diet, National Diet of Japan meet. It is located at Nagatachō, Tokyo, Nagatachō 1-chome 7–1, Chiyoda, Tokyo. Sessions of the House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives ta ...

. The term ''Kantei'' is used as a

metonym Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something associated with that thing or concept. For example, the word "wikt:suit, suit" may refer to a person from groups commonly wearing business attire, such ...

for the office of the Prime Minister of Japan and for the Prime Minister's advisors and administration in general. In addition to being the principal office of the Prime Minister, the building also serves as the principal office of the Chief Cabinet Secretary and their Deputy, the location of Cabinet meetings, and is also the location of a national crisis management center.

Usage

The 1st floor contains a press conference room where the

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

and the Chief Cabinet Secretary hold press conferences. On the 4th floor there is a room where the Cabinet holds meetings, summits, etc. The 5th floor has the Prime Minister's Office, their Reception Room, the Chief Cabinet Secretary's office and reception room.

History

Current Office

A new five-storied office building was built in 2002, with 2.5 times the floor space. Installed with solar panels and a rainwater storage system, the new building has been designed to minimize environmental impact. The new residence went into service in April 2002 In an April 2015 incident, a Phantom 2 drone carrying traces of radiation was found on the roof of the PM's office. In October 2024, a vehicle used by Atsunobu Usuda crashed into a police barricade near the PMO.

Previous Office

The former office building is now known as the , the Prime Minister's personal residential quarters. With the evolution of a national parliament after the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

and the establishment of the post of "Prime Minister of Japan" in 1885, the need for an official prime ministerial residence was felt. On the encouragement of Prime Minister

Tanaka Giichi Baron was a Japanese general and politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1927 to 1929. Born to a ''samurai'' family in the Chōshū Domain, Tanaka became an officer in the Imperial Japanese Army and rose through the ranks. He se ...

, the first residence was completed on 18 March 1929. It incorporates architectural styles such as

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

and

expressionist architecture Expressionist architecture was an architectural movement in Europe during the first decades of the 20th century in parallel with the expressionism, expressionist visual and performing arts that especially developed and dominated in Germany. Bri ...

which became popular from the late Taishō period to the early

Shōwa period Shōwa most commonly refers to: * Hirohito (1901–1989), the 124th Emperor of Japan, known posthumously as Emperor Shōwa ** Shōwa era (昭和), the era of Hirohito from 1926 to 1989 * Showa Corporation, a Japanese suspension and shock manufactu ...

. It was heavily influenced by the architecture of

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed List of Frank Lloyd Wright works, more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key ...

, in particular his design for the second Tokyo Imperial Hotel. It is a two-storied mansion designed by Muraji Shimomoto, of the Ministry of the Treasury (now

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfoli ...

). Prime Minister Tanaka is said to have exclaimed, "This is just like a café, isn't it?", upon seeing the building. By the 1990s, the old building was deemed cramped and insufficient. It underwent seismic retrofitting and internal renovation.

Notes

External links

{{Commons category, Prime Minister's Official Residence (Japan)
Prime Minister of Japan and His Cabinet

Official YouTube Channel

* ttp://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/vt2/sub/index.html A virtual tour of the former Kantei (Prime Minister's Official Residence) Official residences in Japan Buildings and structures in Chiyoda, Tokyo Prime ministerial residences Government buildings completed in 1929 Houses completed in 1929 Government buildings completed in 2002 Houses completed in 2002 2002 establishments in Japan Prime ministers of Japan

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...