Minister of Defense Succession Ceremony

On September 11th, the Fourth Reshuffled Second Abe Cabinet was assembled and Mr. KONO Taro, a member of the House of Representatives, was appointed as the 20th Minister of Defense.

On September 12th, the new Minister of Defense Kono arrived at the Ministry of Defense (MOD) where he received the guard of honor and gave instructions to staffs during the inauguration ceremony. During the instructions, Minister Kono expressed his enthusiasm saying, “To begin with, I would like to express my respect and gratitude to each and every one of the 250,000 members of the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) for your devotion to all of your duties in the field to fulfill our noble mission.
The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF), Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), and Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) conduct surveillance activities seamlessly 24 hours a day, seven days a week, even at this very moment, literally standing at the front line of threats to our territories, waters, and airspace.

In addition to training rigorously every day, you provide supplies and maintenance in a timely and appropriate manner to support the activities of our units. These efforts ensure that we can provide a flawless response to any situation.

In the face of natural disaster, you are the first to rush to people in need even at risk to your own lives.

There is nothing easy about the duties of the MOD and JSDF. The peace and security of our country is maintained by each member fulfilling his or her duties and by integrating each individual’s capabilities together into an organization.

As the Minister of Defense, I will respond to the best of my ability to the efforts of the JSDF members who diligently work day and night on our difficult tasks, with a strong sense of responsibility. To that end, I will visit sites where JSDF personnel are actively performing duties to hear your opinions and thoughts directly.

In addition, I pledge to you today that I will take the lead in addressing the difficult issues at the front line and work to create an environment in which the MOD and JSDF can fully demonstrate our capabilities.”

After that, a succession procedure was performed in which the former minister passed his duties onto the new minister.

About

• Date of birth: 10th January 1963
• Constituency: Kanagawa 15th District
• Domicile: Kanagawa Prefecture

Political Career

• Oct 1996:Elected as member of the House of Representatives (HR)
• Jun 2000:Returned as member of the HR (2nd term)
• Jan 2002:Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications
• Nov 2003:Returned as member of the HR (3rd term)
• Sep 2005:Returned as member of the HR (4th term)
• Nov 2005:State Minister of Justice
• Sep 2008:Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (HR)
• Aug 2009:Returned as member of the HR (5th term)
• Dec 2012:Returned as member of the HR (6th term)
• Dec 2014:Returned as member of the HR (7th term)
• Oct 2015:Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission, Minister for Civil Service Reform, Minister for Administrative Reform, Minister in charge of Disaster Management, Regulatory Reform, Consumer Affairs and Food Safety
• Aug 2017:Minister for Foreign Affairs
• Oct 2017:Returned as member of the HR (8th term)
• Nov 2017:Minister for Foreign Affairs
• Sep 2019:Minister of Defense