Japanese Ministries

The Japanese government's executive branch is primarily composed of ministries.

Current Ministries

• Cabinet Office (内閣府, Naikaku fu)

• National Public Safety Commission (国家公安委員会, Kokka kouan iinkai)

• Digital Agency (デジタル庁, Dejitaru chou)

• Reconstruction Agency (復興庁, Fukkou chou)

• Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (総務省, Soumu shou)

• Ministry of Justice (法務省, Houmu shou)

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs (外務省, Gaimu shou)

• Ministry of Finance (財務省, Zaimu shou)

• Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (文部科学省, Monbu kagaku shou)

• Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (厚生労働省, Kousei roudou shou)

• Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (農林水産省, Nourin suisan shou)

• Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (経済産業省, Keizai sangyou shou)

• Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (国土交通省, Kokudo koutsuu shou)

• Ministry of the Environment (環境省, Kankyou shou)

• Ministry of Defense (防衛省, Bouei shou))

Notable Historic Ministries

• Ministry of War, also sometimes names as the Ministry of the Army (陸軍省, Rikugun shou)

• Ministry of the Navy (海軍省, Kaigun shou)

• Home Ministry (内務省, Naimu shou)

• Ministry of Home Affairs (自治省, Jichishou)

• Ministry of International Trade and Industry, more generally known as MITI (通商産業省, Tsuushousangyou shou)

History

Pre-War

Civil service exams were instituted in the Meiji era to promote a professional and prestigious bureaucracy.

Todai Law earned and maintained a reputation for producing students capable of passing the exams. Similar to Harvard and Yale in the United States, it is now entrenched in national policymaking.

Post-War

Aside from the Home Ministry, much of Imperial Japan's government was left as-is by GHQ. This left the bureaucracy in a powerful position.

While ministers were elected members of the Diet, all other members of a ministry (up to and including vice ministers) were career bureaucrats. This led to a functional structure similar to the IMF; the minister as a figurehead, the vice minister as the de facto head.

This status was maintained by the amakudari system, whereby retiring bureaucrats were gifted a job by the vice minister exercising their high-level connections to corporate boards.

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