Fumio Kishida | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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岸田 文雄 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() Official portrait, 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Prime Minister of Japan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Assumed office 4 October 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Monarch | Naruhito | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Yoshihide Suga | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
President of the Liberal Democratic Party | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Outgoing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Assumed office 29 September 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Vice President | Tarō Asō | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Secretary-General | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Yoshihide Suga | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Assumed office 20 October 1996 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Constituency established | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Majority | 117,800 (71.1%) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 18 July 1993 – 27 September 1996 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Constituency |
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Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan | 29 July 1957||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Political party | Liberal Democratic | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Other political affiliations | Nippon Kaigi[a] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spouse | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Children | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Education | Kaisei Academy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Alma mater | Waseda University (LLB) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Signature | ![]() | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Website | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
a. ^ The Nippon Kaigi is not a political party but a non-government organization and lobbying group. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Ministerial career President of the Liberal Democratic Party
Elections |
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Fumio Kishida (岸田 文雄, Kishida Fumio, born 29 July 1957) is the Prime Minister of Japan and the President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 2021. A member of the House of Representatives, he previously served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2012 to 2017 and as acting Minister of Defense in 2017. From 2017 to 2020, he also chaired the LDP Policy Research Council.[1][2]
Born into a political family, Kishida spent part of his childhood in the United States, where he attended elementary school in New York City. After beginning his career in finance, Kishida entered politics and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1993 as a member of the LDP. Kishida was appointed to various posts in the cabinets of prime ministers Shinzo Abe and Yasuo Fukuda from 2007 to 2008, and was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs in 2012 after Abe regained the premiership following the 2012 general election, serving for five years and becoming the longest-serving Foreign Affairs Minister in Japanese history. Kishida resigned from the Abe cabinet in 2017 in order to head the LDP's Policy Research Council. Kishida also assumed leadership of the LDP's more moderate Kōchikai faction in 2012 following the retirement of faction leader Makoto Koga, a position he held until his resignation in 2023. Long considered a potential future prime minister, Kishida ran in the 2020 LDP leadership election, but lost to Yoshihide Suga. He ran again for the party leadership in 2021, this time winning in a second round run-off against opponent Taro Kono. Kishida was confirmed as prime minister by the National Diet four days later on 4 October, 2021.[3]
As prime minister, Kishida has stated that his premiership will focus on a "new model of capitalism" by seeking to implement redistributive policies to expand the middle class. He led the LDP to victory in the 2021 general election and the 2022 House of Councillors election, albeit at a slightly reduced majority. He oversaw the dissolution of the Unification Church (UC) in Japan following the assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe in 2022, the disbandment of his faction Kōchikai, along with Seiwakai and Shisuikai following a party-wide corruption scandal and the release of treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean in 2023. He reshuffled his cabinet twice, in August 2022 to remove cabinet members affiliated with the UC and in September 2023 following low approval ratings. On foreign policy, he has continued strengthening the Quad Security Dialogue and close cooperation with NATO in pursuit of the Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategy, signed the American–Japanese–Korean trilateral pact in 2023, formed security pacts with the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Philippines, taken steps to repair ties with South Korea, although he has not apologized for historical Japanese imperialism toward Korea. In 2022 he instructed the cabinet to increase Japan's military budget by 65% by 2027. Kishida responded to the Russian invasion of Ukraine by becoming the first Asian country to impose sanctions on Russia and Belarus and authorizing civilian aid to Ukraine. He survived an assassination attempt on 15 April 2023 while delivering a campaign speech. While a part of the more moderate faction of his party, he is a member of the ultranationalist, far-right, historically revisionist organization Nippon Kaigi.[4]
On 13 August 2024, Kishida announced that he would step down as LDP party leader, thereby not seeking reelection in September.[5] This will end his tenure as prime minister of Japan, which was marked by a struggle to recover from record-low approval ratings amid funding scandals.[6]