Female Cabinet Ministers Day in Japan Date in the current year: July 19, 2024

The Cabinet of Japan consists of up to 19 Ministers of State appointed by the Prime Minister who, in turn, is nominated by the National Diet and appointed by the Emperor. The first Cabinet of Japan under the current constitution was formed in 1947, and the first woman was appointed as a Minister of State in 1960.

The first female Cabinet minister in Japan was Masa Nakayama (born Masa Iida-Powers). She was the daughter of an American businessman who had settled in Nagasaki with his Japanese partner. Nakayama was born in Japan but went to the United States to attend university. Upon graduating from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1916, she returned to Japan, where she worked as an educator. In 1923, she married lawyer and politician Fukuzō Nakayama.

Masa Nakayama’s political career began after World War II. In 1947, she was elected to the House of Representatives (the lower house of the Japanese legislature) from the second district of Osaka Prefecture. Thirteen years later, on July 19, 1960, she was appointed as the Minister of Health and Welfare, becoming the first woman in the Cabinet of Japan.

Nakayama was appointed by Hayato Ikeda who became Prime Minister following the resignation of Nobusuke Kishi amid the 1960s Anpo protests. The term of the First Ikeda Cabinet ended on December 8, 1960, and Nakayama wasn’t appointed to the Second Ikeda Cabinet. Although Nakayama served as a Cabinet Minister for less than half a year, her appointment was an important step toward gender equality in Japanese politics. After stepping down, Nakayama remained a member of the National Diet for nine years before retiring. Her son Masaaki succeeded her in her seat.

Since Nakayama’s appointment, more than 30 women have served as Cabinet Ministers (as of 2023): Akiko Santo, Atsuko Toyama, Chieko Nono, Chikage Oogi, Eriko Yamatani, Haruko Arimura, Hiroko Ota, Karen Makishima, Kayoko Shimizu, Keiko Chiba, Keiko Nagaoka, Makiko Tanaka, Masako Mori, Mashiko Komura, Mayumi Moriyama, Michiko Ishii, Midori Matsushima, Noriko Horiuchi, Renho Murata, Ritsuke Nagao, Ryōko Akamatsu, Sanae Takaichi, Seiko Hashimoto, Seiko Noda, Shige Ishimoto, Sumiko Takahara, Tamayo Marukawa, Tomiko Okazaki, Tomomi Inada, Toshiko Hamayotsu, Tsuruyo Kondo, Wakako Hironaka, Yoko Kamikawa, Yoko Komiyama, Yoriko Kawaguchi, Yuko Obuchi, and Yuriko Koike.

The Cabinet of Japan with the biggest number of female ministers was the First Koizumi Cabinet (2001–2003) with a record number of five women: Mayumi Moriyama as the Minister of Justice, Makiko Tanaka as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (April 2001 – January 2002), Yoriko Kawaguchi as the Minister of the Environment (January 2001 – February 2002) and the Minister of Foreign Affairs (February 2002 – November 2003), Atsuko Toyama as the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and Chikage Oogi as the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

Although Female Cabinet Ministers Day is not a public holiday, it is an important celebration of women in Japanese politics. It’s also a great day to reflect on gender equality and highlight how much more needs to be done in this regard because, sadly, the progress isn’t always linear; sometimes it looks more like one step forward, two steps back even in fairly progressive countries.