list of prime ministers of Japan

The office of prime minister of Japan was established in the 1880s during the Meiji Restoration. Originally chosen and appointed by the emperor (with the recommendation of advisers), since the constitution of 1947 the prime minister has been designated by the Diet (Kokkai) before being formally appointed by the emperor. This is a chronologically ordered list of the prime ministers, from the earliest to the most recent.

• Itō Hirobumi (1885–88; 1st time)
• Kuroda Kiyotaka (1888–89)
• Yamagata Aritomo (1889–91; 1st time)
• Matsukata Masayoshi (1891–92; 1st time)
• Itō Hirobumi (1892–96; 2nd time)
• Matsukata Masayoshi (1896–98; 2nd time)
• Itō Hirobumi (1898; 3rd time)
• Ōkuma Shigenobu (1898; 1st time)
• Yamagata Aritomo (1898–1900; 2nd time)
• Itō Hirobumi (1900–01; 4th time)
• Katsura Taro (1901–06; 1st time)
• Saionji Kimmochi (1906–08; 1st time)
• Katsura Taro (1908–11; 2nd time)
• Saionji Kimmochi (1911–12; 2nd time)
• Katsura Taro (1912–13; 3rd time)
• Yamamoto Gonnohyōe (1913–14; 1st time)
• Ōkuma Shigenobu (1914–16; 2nd time)
• Terauchi Masatake (1916–18)
• Hara Takashi (1918–21)
• Takahashi Korekiyo (1921–22)
• Katō Tomosaburō (1922–23)
• Yamamoto Gonnohyōe (1923–24; 2nd time)
• Kiyoura Keigo (1924)
• Katō Takaaki (1924–26)
• Wakatsuki Reijiro (1926–27; 1st time)
• Tanaka Giichi (1927–29)
• Hamaguchi Osachi (1929–31)
• Wakatsuki Reijiro (1931; 2nd time)
• Inukai Tsuyoshi (1931–32)
• Saitō Makoto (1932–34)
• Okada Keisuke (1934–36)
• Hirota Koki (1936–37)
• Hayashi Senjūrō (1937)
• Konoe Fumimaro (1937–39; 1st time)
• Hiranuma Kiichiro (1939)
• Abe Nobuyuki (1939–40)
• Yonai Mitsumasa (1940)
• Konoe Fumimaro (1940–41; 2nd time)
• Konoe Fumimaro (1941; 3rd time)
• Tōjō Hideki (1941–44)
• Koiso Kuniaki (1944–45)
• Suzuki Kantarō (1945)
• Higashikuni Naruhiko (1945)
• Shidehara Kijūrō (1945–46)
• Yoshida Shigeru (1946–47; 1st time)
• Katayama Tetsu (1947–48)
• Ashida Hitoshi (1948)
• Yoshida Shigeru (1948–49; 2nd time)
• Yoshida Shigeru (1949–52; 3rd time)
• Yoshida Shigeru (1952–53; 4th time)
• Yoshida Shigeru (1953–54; 5th time)
• Hatoyama Ichirō (1954–55; 1st time)
• Hatoyama Ichirō (1955; 2nd time)
• Hatoyama Ichirō (1955–56; 3rd time)
• Ishibashi Tanzan (1956–57)
• Kishi Nobusuke (1957–58; 1st time)
• Kishi Nobusuke (1958–60; 2nd time)
• Ikeda Hayato (1960; 1st time)
• Ikeda Hayato (1960–63; 2nd time)
• Ikeda Hayato (1963–64; 3rd time)
• Satō Eisaku (1964–67; 1st time)
• Satō Eisaku (1967–70; 2nd time)
• Satō Eisaku (1970–72; 3rd time)
• Tanaka Kakuei (1972; 1st time)
• Tanaka Kakuei (1972–74; 2nd time)
• Miki Takeo (1974–76)
• Fukuda Takeo (1976–78)
• Ōhira Masayoshi (1978–79; 1st time)
• Ōhira Masayoshi (1979–80; 2nd time)
• Suzuki Zenkō (1980–82)
• Nakasone Yasuhiro (1982–84; 1st time)
• Nakasone Yasuhiro (1984–87; 2nd time)
• Takeshita Noboru (1987–89)
• Uno Sōsuke (1989)
• Kaifu Toshiki (1989–91)
• Miyazawa Kiichi (1991–93)
• Hosokawa Morihiro (1993–94)
• Hata Tsutomu (1994)
• Murayama Tomiichi (1994–96)
• Hashimoto Ryūtarō (1996–98)
• Obuchi Keizo (1998–2000)
• Mori Yoshiro (2000–01)
• Koizumi Junichiro (2001–06)
• Abe Shinzo (2006–07; 1st time)
• Fukuda Yasuo (2007–08)
• Asō Tarō (2008–09)
• Hatoyama Yukio (2009–10)
• Kan Naoto (2010–11)
• Noda Yoshihiko (2011–12)
• Abe Shinzo (2012–20; 2nd time)
• Suga Yoshihide (2020–21)
• Kishida Fumio (2021– )