The Second Kishida cabinet was the 101stCabinet of Japan and was formed in November2021 by Fumio Kishida, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party and Prime Minister of Japan.

The government was a coalition between the Liberal Democratic Party and the Komeito and controlled both the upper and lower houses of the National Diet. It was the successor to Kishida's previous cabinet.

Following his resignation, the Second Kishida cabinet was dissolved on October 1, 2024, and replaced with the First Ishiba cabinet.

Background After Fumio Kishida called for a general election and won a supermajority on 31 October 2021, he was re-elected as the prime minister at a special session of the National Diet on 10 November 2021. As his first cabinet only served 37 days, the shortest term in history, Kishida reappointed nearly all of the ministers from the previous cabinet following re-election.

On 10 August 2022, the cabinet was reshuffled. 7 MPs with ties to the Unification Church (UC) were dismissed following the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and increasing media scrutiny of LDP officials' close ties with the church. On 20 August it was reported that 23 officials including 8 MPs in the new reshuffled cabinet have existing connections to the UC.

Controversies between Abe and the Unification Church The reshuffle was widely reported as a response to the local criticism of ties between Kishida's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Unification Church (UC), following the assassination of the former prime minister, Shinzo Abe, on 8 July 2022. The suspected shooter, Tetsuya Yamagami, revealed that his mother went bankrupt for donating most of the family's wealth and assets to the UC. Although the suspect originally planned to target the leader of the UC, Hak Ja Han, he switched to Abe because he was unable to approach Han, and he considered Abe as one of the most influential supporters of the UC. The revelation renewed local interest in the allegedly long-standing relationship between the LDP and the UC since Abe's maternal grandfather Nobusuke Kishi's tenure, as well as accusations against the UC's practices of collecting donations fraudulently, so-called "spiritual sales". Public opinions on Kishida's decision to hold a state funeral for Abe on 27 September were also divided.

According to a poll conducted by NHK from 5 to 7 August, the approval rating of Kishida's previous cabinet was 46%, down by 13% from a similar poll taken three weeks prior. Also 82% of respondents were not satisfied by the lawmakers' explanations of their ties to the UC.

Kishida's responses regarding the Unification Church Kishida stressed that the new cabinet would have all members closely examined with regard to their relationship with the UC, but media reported that at least 30 members in the reshuffled cabinet were still related to the UC to various degrees. One of the ministers who remained in office after this reshuffle, Daishiro Yamagiwa, received media scrutiny in particular for not disclosing his ties with the UC to the public before the reshuffle, as well as his ambiguous responses when being confronted by reporters about his ties to the UC. Kishida accepted Yamagiwa's resignation on 24 October 2022 as the minister following more evidences of Yamagiwa's ties to the UC surfaced and intense criticisms from the opposition parties in the parliament for his failure to remember his participation in events held by the UC and meetings with top UC officials, including the UC leader Hak Ja Han.

After the cabinet reshuffle, a poll conducted from 20 to 21 August by Mainichi Shimbun showed that the approval rating of the new cabinet dropped to 36% by 16%, with 64% of respondents viewing the ties to the UC as a very serious problem.

Kishida promised to cut ties with the UC and help victims of manipulative sales by the UC. Taro Kono, the minister of digital affairs who was also given the special mission for consumer affairs and food safety, established a spiritual sales review committee in the Consumer Affairs Agency on 29 August. This committee initially elected 8 experts in the UC matter including former prosecutor Shiori Kanno and Masaki Kito, a lawyer representing the National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales which has been providing legal aid for victims and reporting on the anti-social issues of the UC since 1987. The committee was scheduled to hold publicly-viewable weekly online meetings. All committee members offered suggestions for strengthening regulations or enacting preventive measures against spiritual sales.

Increase in military budget In December 2022 the Kishida government announced a $320bn increase in military spending, due in part to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Second reshuffle As of 2023, Kishida has led four cabinets since the beginning of his premiership in October 2021. His first cabinet lasted just 38 days, and was formed following the resignation of former Prime Minister Yoshide Suga's cabinet. After receiving a mandate in the 2021 general election, Kishida formed his second cabinet in November 2021. He reshuffled it twice, the first time being in August 2022 in the wake of the assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe, and the second in September 2023. The second reshuffle includes more women, while also keeping potential political rivals in key roles and positions. In total, eleven first time appointees were introduced in the cabinet.

The cabinet includes five women, only one of which, Sanae Takaichi, was inherited from the previous reshuffled cabinet. Most notably, Kishida replaced Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, who had served in his cabinet since after the general election, with Yoko Kamikawa, who had previously served as Minister of Justice under Yoshihide Suga. Kishida also replaced Yasukazu Hamada, who had served as Defense Minister since the first reshuffle, with Minoru Kihara, who had never served as a cabinet minister before. Kishda retained Taro Kono and Sanae Takaichi in similar roles. Both had competed with Kishida for the LDP Presidency in 2021.

Election of the prime minister

+ 10 November 2021206th Special National Diet House of Representatives Choice Party First Vote Votes Fumio Kishida Liberal Democratic Party Yukio Edano Constitutional Democratic Party Toranosuke Katayama Japan Innovation Party Yuichiro Tamaki Democratic Party For the People Shuji Kira Independent Tarō Yamamoto Reiwa Shinsengumi Source

+ 10 November 2021206th Special National Diet House of Councillors Choice Party First Vote Votes Fumio Kishida Liberal Democratic Party Yukio Edano Constitutional Democratic Party Toranosuke Katayama Japan Innovation Party Yuichiro Tamaki Democratic Party For the People Tarō Yamamoto Reiwa Shinsengumi Yukiko Kada Independent Yoshimi Watanabe Independent Takae Itō Democratic Party For the People Yōichi Iha Independent Blank vote Source

Changes Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi was replaced by Yoshimasa Hayashi, after being chosen as the new LDP Secretary-General due to the resignation of Akira Amari.

List of ministers +Parties Liberal Democratic Komeito + Member of the House of Representatives Member of the House of Councillors Non-Diet member

Cabinet Citation of this table: List of Second Kishida Cabinet Members +Second Kishida Cabinet from November 10, 2021 to August 10, 2022PortfolioImageMinisterTermNotePrime MinisterFumio KishidaR4 October 2021 – 10 August 2022Minister for Internal Affairs and CommunicationsYasushi KanekoR4 October 2021 – 10 August 2022Minister of JusticeYoshihisa FurukawaR4 October 2021 – 10 August 2022Minister for Foreign AffairsYoshimasa HayashiR10 November 2021 – 10 August 2022Minister of FinanceMinister of State for Financial ServicesMinister in charge of Overcoming DeflationShun'ichi SuzukiR4 October 2021 – 10 August 2022Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and TechnologyMinister in charge of Education RebuildingShinsuke SuematsuC4 October 2021 – 10 August 2022Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and FisheriesGenjiro KanekoC→N4 October 2021 – 10 August 2022Minister of Health, Labour and WelfareShigeyuki GotoR 4 October 2021 – 10 August 2022Minister of Economy, Trade and IndustryMinister in charge of Industrial CompetitivenessMinister for Economic Cooperation with RussiaMinister in charge of the Response to the Economic Impact caused by the Nuclear AccidentMinister of State for the Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation CorporationKoichi HagiudaR4 October 2021 – 10 August 2022Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and TourismMinister in charge of Water Cycle PolicyTetsuo SaitoR4 October 2021 – 10 August 2022Minister of the EnvironmentMinister of State for Nuclear Emergency PreparednessTsuyoshi YamaguchiR4 October 2021 – 10 August 2022Minister of DefenseNobuo KishiR16 September 2020 – 10 August 2022Chief Cabinet SecretaryMinister in charge of Mitigating the Impact of U.S. Forces in OkinawaMinister in charge of the Abductions Issue Hirokazu MatsunoR4 October 2021 – 10 August 2022Minister in charge of Promoting Vaccinations1 April 2022 – 10 August 2022Minister for DigitalMinister in charge of Administrative ReformMinister of State for Regulatory Reform Karen MakishimaR4 October 2021 – 10 August 2022Minister for ReconstructionMinister in charge of Comprehensive Policy Coordination for Revival from the Nuclear Accident at FukushimaMinister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs Kosaburo NishimeR4 October 2021 – 10 August 2022Chairman of the National Public Safety CommissionMinister in charge of Building National ResilienceMinister in charge of Territorial IssuesMinister in charge of Civil Service ReformMinister of State for Disaster Management and Ocean Policy Satoshi NinoyuC→N4 October 2021 – 10 August 2022Minister of State for Regional RevitalizationMinister of State for Measures for Declining BirthrateMinister of State for Gender EqualityMinister in charge of Women's EmpowermentMinister in charge of Policies Related to ChildrenMinister in charge of Measures for Loneliness and IsolationSeiko Noda R4 October 2021 – 10 August 2022Minister in charge of Economic RevitalizationMinister in charge of New CapitalismMinister in charge of Measures for Novel Coronavirus Disease and Health Crisis ManagementMinister in charge of Social Security ReformMinister of State for Economic and Fiscal PolicyDaishiro Yamagiwa R4 October 2021 – 10 August 2022Minister in charge of Economic SecurityMinister of State for Science and Technology PolicyMinister of State for Space PolicyMinister of State for Economic Security Takayuki KobayashiR4 October 2021 – 10 August 2022Minister for the World Expo 2025Minister in charge of Digital Garden City Nation VisionMinister in charge of Cohesive SocietyMinister in charge of Overcoming Population Decline and Vitalizing Local EconomyMinister of State for Consumer Affairs and Food SafetyMinister of State for "Cool Japan" StrategyMinister of State for the Intellectual Property StrategyKenji Wakamiya R 4 October 2021 – 10 August 2022Minister for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic GamesMinister in charge of Promoting Vaccinations Noriko HoriuchiR4 October 2021 – 31 March 2022

First reshuffled cabinet