Low Ages in High Office: Japan’s Youngest (and Oldest) Prime Ministers in History
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Young and Old, Leading Japan
In 1885, Itō Hirobumi took office as the first prime minister of Japan. During the 140 years since then, he is one of a total of 65 men to have held the office, up through Ishiba Shigeru (2024–25).
In all, Itō held the office four times, in 1885–88, 1892–96, 1898, and 1900–1901. He is now seen as an elder statesman of early modern Japan, an image burnished by the presence of his white-bearded face on the thousand-yen note for many years, from 1963 through 1986; but at the time he first took office, he was just 44 years, 2 months of age, making him the youngest person ever to serve as prime minister. In the postwar era, the youngest politician ever to occupy the Kantei was Abe Shinzō, aged 53 years, 0 months, when he began his first term in 2006.
Japan’s Youngest Prime Ministers
| Name | First took office | Age |
|---|---|---|
| Itō Hirobumi | Dec. 1885 | 44 years, 2 months |
| Konoe Fumimaro | Jun. 1937 | 45 years, 7 months |
| Kuroda Kiyotaka | Apr. 1888 | 47 years, 5 months |
| Yamagata Aritomo | Dec. 1889 | 51 years, 6 months |
| Abe Shinzō ★ | Sep. 2006 | 52 years, 0 months |
| Katsura Tarō | Jun. 1901 | 53 years, 4 months |
| Tanaka Kakuei ★ | Jul. 1972 | 54 years, 2 months |
| Noda Yoshihiko ★ | Sep. 2011 | 54 years, 3 months |
| Hosokawa Morihiro ★ | Aug. 1993 | 55 years, 6 months |
| Saionji Kinmochi | Jan. 1906 | 56 years, 1 month |
| Matsukata Masayoshi | May 1891 | 56 years, 1 month |
Postwar prime ministers are denoted with a ★.
Looking instead at the oldest prime ministers in Japanese history, leading the pack is Suzuki Kantarō, who held the office for just a few months at the end of World War II in 1945, taking the seat at the age of 77. Also appearing on this list is Fukuda Takeo, who took office in 1976 aged 71 years, 11 months. He is part of the only father-son duo in Japanese history to both hold the nation’s highest office; Fukuda Yasuo was also 71 when he took office in 2007.
Japan’s Oldest Prime Ministers
| Name | First took office | Age |
|---|---|---|
| Suzuki Kantarō | Apr. 1945 | 77 years, 3 months |
| Inukai Tsuyoshi | Dec. 1931 | 76 years, 6 months |
| Kiyoura Keigo | Jan. 1924 | 73 years, 9 months |
| Saitō Makoto | May 1932 | 73 years, 5 months |
| Shidehara Kijūrō ★ | Oct. 1945 | 73 years, 0 months |
| Ishibashi Tanzan ★ | Dec. 1956 | 72 years, 2 months |
| Miyazawa Kiichi ★ | Nov. 1991 | 72 years, 0 months |
| Fukuda Takeo ★ | Dec. 1976 | 71 years, 11 months |
| Hatoyama Ichirō★ | Dec. 1954 | 71 years, 11 months |
| Suga Yoshihide ★ | Sep. 2020 | 71 years, 9 months |
Postwar prime ministers are denoted with a ★.
Prime Minister Fukuda Takeo (1976–78), left, and his son, Prime Minister Fukuda Yasuo (2007–8). (© Jiji)
Data Sources
- Previous Prime Ministers from the Prime Minister’s Office of Japan.
(Originally written in Japanese. Banner photo: Japan’s first prime minister, Itō Hirobumi [courtesy National Diet Library], and its youngest postwar prime minister, Abe Shinzō [© Reuters].)