Ministry of Finance (Japan)

Cabinet-level ministry of the Japanese government

This article is about the Ministry of Finance after 1889. For other uses, see Ministry of the Treasury (Ritsuryō).

Ministry of Finance財務省
Zaimushō

Ministry of Finance building
Agency overview
Formed| June 1, 2001 (2001-06-01)
Preceding agency|

* Ministry of Finance (大蔵省, Ōkura-shō) (until 2001)

Jurisdiction| Government of Japan
Headquarters| 3-1-1 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan 〒100-8940
Ministers responsible|

* Katsunobu Katō, Minister of Finance
* Hiroaki Saitō, State Minister of Finance
* Shinichi Yokoyama, State Minister of Finance

Child agency|

* National Tax Agency

Website| mof.go.jp

The Ministry of Finance (財務省, Zaimu-shō) is one of the cabinet-level ministries of the Japanese government. The ministry was named the Ōkura-shō (大蔵省) until 2001. The Ministry is headed by the Minister of Finance (財務大臣, Zaimu-daijin), who is a member of the Cabinet and is typically chosen from members of the Diet by the Prime Minister.

## Overview

[edit]

Ministry of Finance entrance Bond of Japan, issued 15 May 1910, vignette with Fudschijama

The Ministry originated in the 6th century, when the Ōkura (大蔵) was established as a state treasury in ancient Japan. When a modern system of government was introduced after the Meiji Restoration, the Ministry of Finance (大蔵省, Ōkura-shō) was established as a government body in charge of public finance and monetary affairs. It is said that new ministry employees are subtly reminded that the Ōkura-shō predates by some 1269 years when the new Constitution was imposed on the nation by the U.S. occupation forces in 1947.[1]

The Ministry has long been regarded as the most powerful ministry in the Japanese government. After various financial scandals revealed in the 1990s, however, the Ministry lost its power over banking supervision to a newly established Financial Services Agency. It also lost most of its control over monetary policy to the Bank of Japan when the Diet passed a new Bank of Japan Law in 1998. In addition, it lost its ancient Japanese name when it was renamed the Zaimu-shō (財務省) in January 2001, although its English name remained the same.[2]

In financial markets, the Ministry is famous for its active foreign exchange policy. Its top civil servant on the international side, Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs, is often quoted in the financial press. Former Vice Minister Eisuke Sakakibara was known as "Mr Yen", whereas his successors Haruhiko Kuroda and Zenbei Mizoguchi were often referred to as "Mr. Asian Currency" and "Mr. Dollar", respectively.

## Organizational structure

[edit]

The Customs and Tariff Bureau (Customs flag shown) is one of the divisions of the Ministry.

The Ministry is organized in six bureaus that provide the overall functions of the ministry:[3]

* Minister's Secretariat
* Budget Bureau
* Tax Bureau
* Customs and Tariff Bureau
* Financial Bureau
* International Bureau

## Independent Administrative Institutions

[edit]

Six Independent Administrative Institutions are under the Ministry's control:

* Japan Mint
* National Printing Bureau
* National Research Institute of Brewing
* Nippon Automated Cargo Clearance System
* Commemorative Organization for the Japan World Exposition '70
* Japan Housing Finance Agency

## Incidents

[edit]

* In 1998, four officials at the ministry were arrested and 112 disciplined for accepting bribes in the form of visits to a no-pan shabu-shabu restaurant in Shinjuku.[4]

* In March 2018 Toshio Akagi, an employee of the ministry's Kinki Local Finance Bureau, committed suicide after being forced to tamper with documents related to the sale of government owned land to school operator Moritomo Gakuen, a transaction defended by the ministry despite the resulting scandal.[5][6] His wife began collecting signatures online for a petition to investigate the truth about Akagi's suicide. As of 2020[update], she had gathered around 290,000 signatures.[7][8]
* On May 20, 2022, the deputy vice minister for policy planning and coordination in the Ministry of Finance was arrested for beating and kicking a fellow passenger on a train in Tokyo.[9]

## See also

[edit]

* Minister of Finance (Japan)
* Monetary and fiscal policy of Japan
* Ministry of International Trade and Industry
* National Tax Agency

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Lamont-Brown, Raymond. "The Ministry: The Inside Story of Japan's Ministry of Finance – a book review", Contemporary Review. August 1998.]
2. ^ Machidori, S. (2023). Political Reform Reconsidered: The Trajectory of a Transformed Japanese State. Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore.
3. ^ "Functions". Ministry of Finance. Retrieved 2017-02-12.
4. ^ https://japantoday.com/category/features/kuchikomi/entertainment-at-lurid-shabu-shabu-establishment-got-bankers-bureaucrats-in-hot-water
5. ^ "Bureaucrat's widow asks PM to look into Moritomo Gakuen scandal that led to her husband's suicide". The Japan Times. 2021-10-07. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
6. ^ McNeill, David. "An ultranationalist school, a suicide and a wife on a quest for the truth". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
7. ^ https://www.nnn.co.jp/dainichi/news/200402/20200402022.html [dead link‍]
8. ^ "森友・文書改ざん 再調査求める署名30万人突破へ 電通過労自殺の遺族も賛同" [Morimoto document forgery - More than 30000 signatories demand re-investigation - Relatives of the Dentsu Karoshi case endorse it]. mainichi.jp. 2020-04-16. Archived from the original on 2022-09-27.
9. ^ "Senior Japan ministry official arrested for alleged assault on train". The Japan Times. 20 May 2022. Retrieved 7 October 2022.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Peter Hartcher. (1998) The Ministry: The Inside Story of Japan's Ministry of Finance. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-255854-8.
* Department of Finance (1901). Financial and Economical Annual of Japan. Tokyo: Government Printing Office - via Hathi Trust. 1901-

## External links

[edit]

* Media related to Ministry of Finance (Japan) at Wikimedia Commons
* Official website

35°40′23″N 139°44′56″E﻿ / ﻿35.673°N 139.749°E﻿ / 35.673; 139.749

* v
* t
* e

Japanese government ministries and agencies

* Cabinet

* Cabinet Secretariat
* Cabinet Legislation Bureau
* National Security Council
* National Personnel Authority

* Cabinet Office
* Imperial Household Agency
* Fair Trade Commission
* National Public Safety Commission and National Police Agency
* Personal Information Protection Commission
* Financial Services Agency
* Consumer Affairs Agency
* Casino Regulatory Commission
* Children and Families Agency [ja]
* Digital Agency
* Reconstruction Agency

* Internal Affairs and Communications (List)
* Justice (List)
* Foreign Affairs (List)
* Finance (List)

* Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (List)
* Health, Labour, and Welfare (List)

* Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (List)
* Economy, Trade and Industry (List)

* Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (List)
* Environment (List)
* Defense (List)

* Board of Audit (constitutionally independent)

* v
* t
* e

Customs services by country

Africa|

* Algeria
* Angola
* Benin
* Botswana
* Burkina Faso
* Burundi
* Cameroon
* Cape Verde
* Central African Republic
* Chad
* Comoros
* Democratic Republic of the Congo
* Republic of the Congo
* Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
* Djibouti
* Egypt
* Equatorial Guinea
* Eritrea
* Ethiopia
* Gabon
* The Gambia
* Ghana
* Guinea
* Guinea-Bissau
* Kenya
* Lesotho
* Liberia
* Libya
* Madagascar
* Malawi
* Mali
* Mauritania
* Mauritius
* Morocco
* Mozambique
* Namibia
* Niger
* Nigeria
* Rwanda
* São Tomé and Príncipe
* Senegal
* Seychelles
* Sierra Leone
* Somalia
* South Africa
* South Sudan
* Sudan
* Swaziland
* Tanzania
* Togo
* Tunisia
* Uganda
* Zambia
* Zimbabwe

Americas|

* Antigua and Barbuda
* Argentina
* Bahamas
* Barbados
* Belize
* Bolivia
* Brazil
* Canada
* Chile
* Colombia
* Agency
* Enforcement
* Costa Rica
* Cuba
* Dominica
* Dominican Republic
* Ecuador
* El Salvador
* Grenada
* Guatemala
* Guyana
* Haiti
* Honduras
* Jamaica
* Mexico
* Nicaragua
* Panama
* Paraguay
* Peru
* St. Kitts and Nevis
* Saint Lucia
* Suriname
* St. Vincent and the Grenadines
* Trinidad and Tobago
* United States
* Uruguay
* Venezuela

Asia|

* Afghanistan
* Bahrain
* Bangladesh
* Bhutan
* Brunei
* Cambodia
* China
* Mainland
* Hong Kong
* Macau
* India
* Indonesia
* Iran
* Iraq
* Israel
* Japan
* Jordan
* Kazakhstan
* North Korea
* South Korea
* Kuwait
* Kyrgyzstan
* Laos
* Lebanon
* Malaysia
* Maldives
* Mongolia
* Myanmar
* Nepal
* Oman
* Pakistan
* Palestine
* Philippines
* Qatar
* Saudi Arabia
* Singapore
* Sri Lanka
* Syria
* Republic of China (Taiwan)
* Tajikistan
* Thailand
* Timor-Leste
* Turkmenistan
* United Arab Emirates
* Uzbekistan
* Vietnam
* Yemen

Europe|

* Albania
* Andorra
* Armenia
* Austria
* Azerbaijan
* Belarus
* Belgium
* Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Bulgaria
* Croatia
* Cyprus
* Czech Republic
* Denmark
* Estonia
* Finland
* France
* Georgia
* Germany
* ZFA
* ZKA
* ZOLL
* ZUZ
* Greece
* Hungary
* Iceland
* Ireland
* Italy
* Agencies
* Enforcement
* Latvia
* Liechtenstein
* Lithuania
* Luxembourg
* Malta
* Moldova
* Montenegro
* Netherlands
* North Macedonia
* Norway
* Poland
* Portugal
* Romania
* Russia
* San Marino
* Serbia
* Slovakia
* Slovenia
* Spain
* Sweden
* Switzerland
* Turkey
* Ukraine
* United Kingdom
* Akrotiri and Dhekelia
* Gibraltar
* Guernsey
* Jersey
* Vatican City

Oceania|

* Australia
* Federated States of Micronesia
* Fiji
* Kiribati
* Marshall Islands
* Nauru
* New Zealand
* Palau
* Papua New Guinea
* Samoa
* Solomon Islands
* Tonga
* Tuvalu
* Vanuatu

International|

* World Customs Organization
* European Union

Non-recognized|

* Abkhazia
* Artsakh
* Kosovo
* Northern Cyprus
* Somaliland
* South Ossetia
* Transnistria

Defunct|

* Australia (till 2009)
* Czechoslovakia
* Imperial China
* Imperial France
* Soviet Union
* West Germany
* United Kingdom
* HM Customs (till 1909)
* HM Customs and Excise (till 2005)
* United States (till 2003)
* Yugoslavia

* Border guard
* Coast guard
* Customs
* Law enforcement agency
* Types
* Intelligence agency

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF

National|

* Germany
* United States
* Japan

Academics|

* CiNii

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template