Minister of Finance (Japan)

The Minister of Finance (財務大臣, Zaimu Daijin) is the member of the Cabinet of Japan in charge of the Ministry of Finance. This position was formerly cited as being Japan's most powerful and one of the world's, because Japan had historically held the largest foreign exchange reserves. It seems that title has been passed to Bank of Japan governors, due to Japan's position as the world's largest and lowest rate creditor.

Until 2001, the position was known in Japanese literally as "Treasury Minister" (大蔵大臣, Ōkura Daijin), but the English name was "Minister of Finance" both before and after the name change in Japanese.

List of ministers

Prewar (1900–1946)

#	Name	Took office	Left office
1	Watanabe Kunitake	1900	1901
2	Saionji Kinmochi	1901	1901
3	Sone Arasuke	1901	1906
4	Yoshiro Sakatani	1906	1908
5	Masahisa Matsuda	1908	1908
6	Katsura Tarō	1908	1911
7	Yamamoto Tatsuo	1911	1912
8	Wakatsuki Reijirō (1st)	1912	1913
9	Takahashi Korekiyo (1st)	1913	1914
8	Wakatsuki Reijirō (2nd)	1914	1915
10	Taketomi Tokitoshi	1915	1916
11	Terauchi Masatake	1916	1916
12	Kazue Shōda (1st)	1916	1918
9	Takahashi Korekiyo (2nd)	1918	1922
13	Otohiko Ichiki	1922	1923
14	Junnosuke Inoue (1st)	1923	1924
12	Kazue Shōda (2nd)	1924	1924
15	Osachi Hamaguchi	1924	1925
16	Seiji Hayami	1925	1925
17	Kataoka Naoharu	1925	1927
9	Takahashi Korekiyo (3rd)	1927	1927
18	Chuzo Mitsuchi	1927	1929
14	Junnosuke Inoue (2nd)	1929	1931
9	Takahashi Korekiyo (4th)	1931	1934
19	Sadanobu Fujii	1934	1934
9	Takahashi Korekiyo (5th)	1934	1936
20	Machida Chūji	1936	1936
21	Eiichi Baba	1936	1937
22	Toyotaro Yuki[1]	1937	1937
23	Okinori Kaya (1st)	1937	1938
24	Shigeaki Ikeda	1938	1939
25	Sotaro Ishiwata (1st)	1939	1939
26	Kazuo Aoki	1939	1940
27	Yukio Sakurauchi	1940	1940
28	Isao Kawada	1940	1941
29	Masatsune Ogura	1941	1941
23	Okinori Kaya (2nd)	1941	1944
25	Sotaro Ishiwata (2nd)	1944	1945
30	Juichi Tsushima	1945	1945
31	Keizō Shibusawa	1945	1946

Postwar (1946–present)

  Liberal (1945)
  Socialist
  Ryokufūkai
  Democratic (1947)
  Democratic Liberal
  Liberal (1950)
  Independent
  Democratic (1954)
  Liberal Democratic
  Japan New Party
  New Party Sakigake
  Japan Renewal Party
  Democratic

Finance Minister				Term of office			Prime Minister
#	Portrait		Name	Took Office	Left Office	Days
32			Tanzan Ishibashi	May 22, 1946	May 24, 1947	367		Shigeru Yoshida
-			Tetsu Katayama (Acting)	May 24, 1947	June 1, 1947	8		Tetsu Katayama
33			Shōtarō Yano	June 1, 1947	June 25, 1947	24
34			Takeo Kurusu	June 25, 1947	March 10, 1948	259
35			Tokutarō Kitamura	March 10, 1948	October 15, 1948	223		Hitoshi Ashida
36			Sanroku Izumiyama	October 19, 1948	December 14, 1948	56		Shigeru Yoshida
37			Shinzō Ōya (Interim)	December 14, 1948	February 16, 1949	64
38			Hayato Ikeda	February 16, 1949	October 30, 1952	1352
39			Tadaharu Mukai	October 30, 1952	May 21, 1953	203
40			Sankurō Ogasawara	May 21, 1953	December 10, 1954	568
41			Hisato Ichimada	December 10, 1954	November 22, 1955	744		Ichirō Hatoyama
				November 22, 1955	December 23, 1956
(38)			Hayato Ikeda	December 23, 1956	July 10, 1957	199		Tanzan Ishibashi
								Nobusuke Kishi
(41)			Hisato Ichimada	July 10, 1957	June 12, 1958	337
42			Eisaku Satō	June 12, 1958	July 19, 1960	768
43			Mikio Mizuta	July 19, 1960	July 18, 1962	729		Hayato Ikeda
44			Kakuei Tanaka	July 18, 1962	June 3, 1965	1051
								Eisaku Satō
45			Takeo Fukuda	June 3, 1965	December 3, 1966	548
(43)			Mikio Mizuta	December 3, 1966	November 30, 1968	728
(45)			Takeo Fukuda	November 30, 1968	July 5, 1971	947
(43)			Mikio Mizuta	July 5, 1971	July 7, 1972	368
46			Koshiro Ueki	July 7, 1972	December 22, 1972	168		Kakuei Tanaka
47			Kiichi Aichi	December 22, 1972	November 23, 1973	336
(45)			Takeo Fukuda	November 25, 1973	July 16, 1974	233
48			Masayoshi Ōhira	July 16, 1974	December 24, 1976	892
								Takeo Miki
49			Hideo Bo	December 24, 1976	November 28, 1977	339		Takeo Fukuda
50			Tatsuo Murayama	November 28, 1977	December 7, 1978	374
51			Ippei Kaneko	December 7, 1978	November 9, 1979	337		Masayoshi Ōhira
52			Noboru Takeshita	November 9, 1979	July 17, 1980	251
53			Michio Watanabe	July 17, 1980	November 27, 1982	863		Zenkō Suzuki
(52)			Noboru Takeshita	November 27, 1982	July 22, 1986	1333		Yasuhiro Nakasone
54			Kiichi Miyazawa	July 22, 1986	December 9, 1988	871
								Noboru Takeshita
(52)			Noboru Takeshita (Acting)	December 9, 1988	December 27, 1988	18
(50)			Tatsuo Murayama	December 27, 1988	August 10, 1989	226
								Sosuke Uno
55			Ryutaro Hashimoto	August 10, 1989	October 14, 1991	795		Toshiki Kaifu
-			Toshiki Kaifu (Acting)	October 14, 1991	November 5, 1991	22
56			Tsutomu Hata	November 5, 1991	December 12, 1992	403		Kiichi Miyazawa
57			Yoshiro Hayashi	December 12, 1992	August 9, 1993	240
58			Hirohisa Fujii	August 9, 1993	June 30, 1994	325		Morihiro Hosokawa
								Tsutomu Hata
59			Masayoshi Takemura	June 30, 1994	January 11, 1996	560		Tomiichi Murayama
60			Wataru Kubo	January 11, 1996	November 7, 1996	301		Ryutaro Hashimoto
61			Hiroshi Mitsuzuka	November 7, 1996	January 28, 1998	447
62			Hikaru Matsunaga	January 30, 1998	July 30, 1998	181
(54)			Kiichi Miyazawa	July 30, 1998	April 26, 2001	1001		Keizo Obuchi
								Yoshirō Mori
63			Masajuro Shiokawa	April 26, 2001	September 22, 2003	879		Junichiro Koizumi
64			Sadakazu Tanigaki	September 22, 2003	September 26, 2006	1100
65			Kōji Omi	September 26, 2006	August 27, 2007	335		Shinzō Abe
66			Fukushiro Nukaga	August 27, 2007	August 1, 2008	340
								Yasuo Fukuda
67			Bunmei Ibuki	August 1, 2008	September 24, 2008	54
68			Shōichi Nakagawa	September 24, 2008	February 18, 2009	147		Taro Aso
69			Kaoru Yosano	February 18, 2009	September 16, 2009	210
(58)			Hirohisa Fujii	September 16, 2009	January 6, 2010	112		Yukio Hatoyama
70			Naoto Kan	January 6, 2010	June 8, 2010	153
71			Yoshihiko Noda	June 8, 2010	September 2, 2011	451		Naoto Kan
72			Jun Azumi	September 2, 2011	October 1, 2012	395		Yoshihiko Noda
73			Koriki Jojima	October 1, 2012	December 26, 2012	86
74			Tarō Asō	December 26, 2012	Incumbent	2789		Shinzō Abe

References

1. Fuji Ginkō. (1967). Banking in modern Japan, p. 125.