Ministerial offices

Minister for Foreign Affairs
Acting 4 November 2021 – 10 November 2021
Prime Minister	Himself
Preceded by	Toshimitsu Motegi
Succeeded by	Yoshimasa Hayashi
In office 26 December 2012 – 3 August 2017
Prime Minister	Shinzo Abe
Preceded by	Kōichirō Genba
Succeeded by	Tarō Kōno
Minister of Defense
Acting 28 July 2017 – 3 August 2017
Prime Minister	Shinzo Abe
Preceded by	Tomomi Inada
Succeeded by	Itsunori Onodera
Minister of State for Consumers
In office 18 June 2008 – 1 August 2008
Prime Minister	Yasuo Fukuda
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Seiko Noda
Minister of State for Space
In office 6 February 2008 – 1 August 2008
Prime Minister	Yasuo Fukuda
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Seiko Noda
Minister of State for Okinawa and the Northern Territories
In office 27 August 2007 – 1 August 2008
Prime Minister	Shinzo Abe Yasuo Fukuda
Preceded by	Sanae Takaichi
Succeeded by	Motoo Hayashi
Minister of State for Regulatory Reform
In office 27 August 2007 – 1 August 2008
Prime Minister	Shinzo Abe Yasuo Fukuda
Preceded by	Yoshimi Watanabe
Succeeded by	Kaoru Yosano
Minister of State for Science, Technology and Quality of Life
In office 27 August 2007 – 1 August 2008
Prime Minister	Shinzo Abe Yasuo Fukuda
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Seiko Noda

Member of the House of Representatives
for Hiroshima's 1st district

Incumbent

Assumed office
20 October 1996

Preceded by

Constituency established

Majority

117,800 (71.1%)

In office
18 July 1993 – 27 September 1996

Constituency

Former 1st district
(Elect Four)

Personal details

Born

29 July 1957 (age 67)
Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan

Political party

Liberal Democratic

Spouse

Yuko Wada

(m. 1988)

Children

Education

Kaisei Academy

Alma mater

Waseda University (LLB)

Signature

Japanese name

Kanji

岸田文雄

Revised Hepburn

Kishida Fumio

Fumio Kishida (岸田文雄, Kishida Fumio, born 29 July 1957) is a Japanese politician who served as the 64th prime minister of Japan and president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2021 to 2024. 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.

On 14 August 2024, Kishida announced that he would step down as LDP party leader, thereby not seeking reelection in September. He was replaced by Shigeru Ishiba.

Early life and education
Political career
Prime Minister of Japan (2021–2024)
Political views
- Nuclear policy
- Social issues
Personal life
Honours
See also

Early life and education

Kishida was born to a political family in Shibuya, Tokyo, on 29 July 1957. His father, Fumitake Kishida, was a government official in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and director of The Small and Medium Enterprise Agency. Since the Kishida family was from Hiroshima, the family returned there every summer. Many members of the Kishida family had died in the atomic bombing and Fumio grew up hearing stories from the atomic bomb survivors. Both his father Fumitake and grandfather Masaki Kishida were former politicians who were members of the House of Representatives. Former Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yoichi Miyazawa is his cousin and former prime minister Kiichi Miyazawa is a distant relative.

He went to P.S. 013 Clement C. Moore elementary school in the Elmhurst neighborhood of Queens, New York, because his father was posted to a job in the U.S. at the time. He also attended Kōjimachi Elementary School and Kōjimachi Junior High School. Kishida graduated from Kaisei Academy, where he played on the baseball team.

Following several rejections from the University of Tokyo, Kishida studied law at Waseda University and graduated in 1982. At Waseda, he was friends with future politician Takeshi Iwaya.

Political career

Kishida with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, September 2014

Kishida with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in March 2017

After working at now-defunct Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan, Kishida entered politics and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1993 as a member of the LDP. Kishida served as Minister of Okinawa Affairs from 2007 to 2008, firstly in the Abe Cabinet and later in the Fukuda cabinet. He was appointed state minister in charge of consumer affairs and food safety in the cabinet of then prime minister Yasuo Fukuda in 2008. Kishida was also state minister in charge of science and technology in the Fukuda cabinet. Kishida was close to Makoto Koga, leader of the Kōchikai faction, one of the oldest inside the LDP, and assumed control of it in October 2012 after Makoto Koga announced his retirement from politics.

Kishida 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.

Prime Minister of Japan (2021–2024)

Kishida is elected by the Diet, 4 October 2021.

Following Yoshihide Suga's announcement on 3 September 2021 that he would resign, following low approval ratings (at one point below 30%), and a new wave of COVID-19 infections, Kishida and Taro Kono of Shikōkai faction were in the lead to replace him. Suga's decision to not seek re-election as head of the LDP triggered another leadership election in September, just a little more than a year after the previous election in 2020. Throughout the race, Kono was heavily favored to win as he remained in first place among various LDP polls, and he received endorsements by Suga and others.

On 29 September 2021, Kishida defeated Taro Kono in a runoff vote to become the leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and replaced outgoing party leader Yoshihide Suga. He received a total of 257 votes (60.19%), from 249 parliamentary members and eight rank-and-file members, to become Japan's next prime minister.

Domestic policy

Fumio Kishida at the 49th G7 summit in Hiroshima, May 2023

Fumio meet President Jokowi in Tokyo, July 2022.

Kishida meeting with South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol in 2023

Kishida with Kenyan President William Ruto, 2 May 2023

In December 2022, Kishida instructed his government to increase "national security-related spending" to 2 percent of Japan's GDP, while increasing the military budget from 5.4 trillion yen ($40 billion) in 2022 to 8.9 trillion yen ($66 billion) by 2027, up 65%. This would lead to a spending a total of around 43 trillion yen ($321 billion) between 2023-2027, up 56% from 2019–2023.

Kishida set child care as his government's priority for the year 2023. He emphasized the potential consequences of declining birth rates in Japan, and stated that his administration would increase monetary child benefits given to parents. He announced a plan to double the country's children-related budget by June 2023, and instructed government ministers in the administration to outline child care plans by the end of March 2023. On 1 June, Kishida's government officially set aside ¥3.5 trillion annually for child care, but was criticized for lack of specific details in his child care plan.

On 13 March 2023, Kishida's government ended the request for citizens to wear face masks in public, a policy initiated to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan that was made 3 years earlier. On 27 April, Kishida's Health Minister, Katsunobu Katō, announced that the government would downgrade the classification of COVID-19 to be on par with "seasonal flu", by 8 May.

Kishida appointed Kazuo Ueda as Governor of the Bank of Japan in April 2023, who stated he planned to continue the ultra easy monetary policy introduced by the outgoing Governor Haruhiko Kuroda. A few weeks before his next cabinet reshuffle, Kishida stated he wanted to raise the hourly minimum wage in Japan to about ¥1,500 ($10.29) by 2030.

Fukushima water release

In April 2021, the government of Yoshihide Suga, Kishida's predecessor, announced that the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) would eventually begin to discharge stored and treated water from the dismantled Fukushima nuclear plant into the ocean, a process that would take 30 years. Kishida's government confirmed they would continue with the water release, in August 2023. Proceeding the water dump, Kishida's government reached an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regarding the levels of tritium in the stored water that would be discharged, and received a comprehensive report affirming the safety of the operation from Rafael Grossi, the IAEA's Secretary-General, in July 2023. Later in August, Grossi stated that the levels of tritium were vastly below the safety standards recommended by the IAEA, and confirmed the water wasn't toxic. Before the dumping, the Ministry of Environment confirmed IAEA standards were being followed, and the levels of radioactive tritium in the water would remain below IAEA dilution regulations. TEPCO announced that dumping had begun on 24 August 2023, beginning the discharge of the water. No errors were reported in the release.

Kishida inspecting the Fukushima nuclear plant, 20 August 2023.

Following the announcement of the water release, there was positive and negative feedback from both inside Japan and internationally. Domestic organizations, such as the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperative Associations, were opposed to the plan. The strongest foreign backlash came from China, which was opposed to the dumping. The Chinese central government placed an outright ban on all Japanese fish products, which accounted for the largest of Japan's fish exports. China was heavily criticized for the ban, and was also accused of hypocrisy and spreading disinformation, as they had released nuclear waste water previously that contained significantly higher levels of tritium. In the days following the release, a number of phone calls regarding the water release from Chinese speakers were made harassing people, companies, and government agencies in Japan. Kishida said the calls were "deplorable", and appealed to China to urge its government to ask its citizens to stop the harassing calls. The phone calls came as protests occurred in China, as well in South Korea and Japan. The Foreign Ministry issued a travel advisory urging Japanese citizens to use caution in China, citing an escalation of harassments and violent protests. Sanae Takaichi, the Minister of State for Economic Security, said the government would consider filing a World Trade Organization complaint in response to the import bans imposed by China. The United States affirmed their support for the water release; American ambassador Rahm Emanuel even visited Fukushima and ate seafood to demonstrate a show of support. In South Korea, various protest were held against the decision. However, the South Korean government did not oppose the plan, and President Yoon also ate seafood from Fukushima to encourage others that it was safe.

Through the early stages of the release, the Environment Ministry conducted numerous tests concerning the levels of tritium in the water as well as in the fish, and stated the levels remained low. The effects on the fish markets were expected to be severe, and Kishida promised to financially support local fisheries. On August 30, Kishida, along with three cabinet ministers, publicly ate fish sashimi from Fukushima in an effort to dispel fears of radioactive contamination. He called it "safe and delicious".

Foreign relations

Kishida at the 2022 Quadrilateral Security Dialogue meeting with Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese, US president Joe Biden and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi

In keeping with the Free and Open Indo-Pacific policy, Kishida has visited Quad nations such as India and Australia to ensure the status quo in the region remains unchanged. Kishida has also visited nations in Europe, along with Canada and the United States, with Japan hosting the 49th G7 summit in May 2023. In November 2022, he accused China of violating Japan's sovereignty in the East China Sea and criticised the persecution of the Uyghur minority in China's Xinjiang province. Kishida supported Bangladesh's efforts to repatriate Rohingya refugees to Myanmar. Kishida attended the 2022 NATO summit in Spain, as well as the 2023 NATO summit in Lithuania.

Kishida with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, February 2017

Resignation

On 14 August 2024, Kishida announced that he would no longer seek another term as president of the LDP in elections due in September, which would also effectively end his tenure as prime minister. Kishida said that he was withdrawing in order for the party to have an “open contest to promote debate” and "to show the people that the LDP is changing".

Political views

Nuclear policy

Kishida delivering a speech in October 2017

Kishida is in favor of retaining nuclear power technology, which he says should be considered as a clean energy option, while also calling for the establishment of a $90.7 billion university fund to further stimulate science and promotion of renewable energy.

Being a representative from Hiroshima, Kishida has consistently advocated for Japanese diplomacy to promote nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament within the framework of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Kishida rejected former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's proposal for Japan to consider hosting U.S. nuclear weapons as a deterrent, calling it "unacceptable" given the country's stance of maintaining the three non-nuclear principles.

Social issues

Kishida stated support for discussions toward allowing married Japanese couples to choose between unified single surnames or separate last names, while on the topic of same-sex marriage Kishida has stated he has not come to support it, saying instead that the public's opinion should be understood before the Diet decides. In 2023 he stated that Japan must "be extremely careful in considering the matter as it could affect the structure of family life in Japan".

Personal life

In 1988, Kishida married Yuko Kishida, the daughter of a Japanese real estate investor, in an arranged marriage. The couple have three sons. In one presentation, Yuko was featured in the LDP messaging immediately after he became the de facto PM-designate. He is a fan of the manga series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba and has pledged to financially support the Japanese animation industry during his premiership. He is also a fan of the Hiroshima Toyo Carp baseball team.

In May 2023, Kishida dismissed his eldest son, Shotaro Kishida, from his role as policy secretary, effective 1 June 2023, for misuse of government resources.

Honours

Netherlands: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau (29 October 2014).
Spain: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic (31 March 2017)

Fumio Kishida facts for kids

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