The Most Famous

POLITICIANS from Japan

This page contains a list of the greatest Japanese Politicians. The pantheon dataset contains 19,576 Politicians, 356 of which were born in Japan. This makes Japan the birth place of the 10th most number of Politicians behind Turkey, and China.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Japanese Politicians of all time. This list of famous Japanese Politicians is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Japanese Politicians.

1. Hirohito (1901 - 1989)

With an HPI of 81.58, Hirohito is the most famous Japanese Politician. His biography has been translated into 129 different languages on wikipedia.

Hirohito (29 April 1901 – 7 January 1989), posthumously honored as Emperor Shōwa, was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, reigning from 1926 until his death in 1989. He was one of the longest-reigning monarchs in the world, with his reign of 62 years being the longest of any Japanese emperor. Hirohito was born in Aoyama, Tokyo, during the reign of his paternal grandfather, Emperor Meiji. He was the first child of Crown Prince Yoshihito and Crown Princess Sadako (later Emperor Taishō and Empress Teimei). As the grandson of Emperor Meiji, Hirohito was raised away from the court, but returned following his caregiver's death. His education emphasized physical health due to his frailty, alongside values of frugality and devotion to duty. Hirohito's early military commissions and education under influential figures shaped his perspective on Japan's divine imperial lineage, and its role in modernization and diplomacy. His father acceded to the throne in 1912 upon the death of his father Emperor Meiji, making the eleven-year-old Prince Hirohito the heir apparent. Proclaimed crown prince in 1916, Hirohito's overseas visits in 1921 to Western Europe marked a significant step towards international diplomacy for Japan, despite domestic opposition. His experiences abroad, particularly in Britain and meeting with European monarchs, influenced his understanding of international relations and Japan's position on the global stage. Hirohito assumed regency in 1921 due to his father's health issues, navigating Japan through significant treaties, the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, and an assassination attempt. In January 1924, he married Princess Nagako Kuni, and their marriage further solidified his position within the imperial family and Japanese society. The couple had seven children. When his father died in December 1926, Hirohito—then 25 years old—became emperor of Japan. Hirohito reigned as a constitutional monarch and was the head of state under the Meiji Constitution during Japanese imperial expansion particularly in China, militarization, and involvement in World War II. During Hirohito's reign, Japan waged a war across Asia in the 1930s and 40s. His involvement in military decisions, particularly in the Second Sino-Japanese War and Pacific Theater of World War II, has been a subject of historical debate regarding his responsibility for war crimes. Despite initial successes, Japan's strategic miscalculations under his reign led to devastating consequences for Japan. After the surrender of Japan, despite it waging the war in the name of Hirohito, he was not prosecuted for war crimes, for General Douglas MacArthur thought that an ostensibly cooperative emperor would help establish a peaceful Allied occupation and the U.S. achieve its postwar objectives. As a result, MacArthur did everything in his power to exclude any possible evidence that would have incriminated Hirohito and his family during the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal. On 1 January 1946, under pressure from the Allies, the Emperor formally renounced his divinity. Hirohito played a crucial role in recovery of postwar Japan and reintegration into the international community, though his wartime role remained controversial. His legacy is a complex blend of tradition, militarism, and modernization, reflecting the challenges and transformations Japan faced during the 20th century. Hirohito died aged 87 at Fukiage Palace in January 1989, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Akihito. By 1979, Hirohito was the only remaining monarch in the world with the title "Emperor", after Jean-Bédel Bokassa, Emperor of Central Africa, was deposed.

2. Emperor Meiji (1852 - 1912)

With an HPI of 78.09, Emperor Meiji is the 2nd most famous Japanese Politician. His biography has been translated into 82 different languages.

Mutsuhito (3 November 1852 – 30 July 1912), posthumously honored as Emperor Meiji, was the 122nd emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Reigning from 1867 to his death, he was the first monarch of the Empire of Japan and presided over the Meiji era. His reign is associated with the Meiji Restoration, a series of rapid changes that witnessed Japan's transformation from an isolationist, feudal state to an industrialized world power. At the time of Emperor Meiji's birth in 1852, Japan was a feudal pre-industrial country dominated by the isolationist Tokugawa shogunate and the daimyō subject to it, who ruled over the country's 270 decentralized domains. By the time of his death, Japan had undergone an extensive political, economic, and social revolution and emerged as one of the great powers on the world stage. The New York Times summarized this transformation at the emperor's funeral in 1912: "the contrast between that which preceded the funeral car and that which followed it was striking indeed. Before it went old Japan; after it came new Japan."

3. Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536 - 1598)

With an HPI of 74.83, Toyotomi Hideyoshi is the 3rd most famous Japanese Politician. His biography has been translated into 70 different languages.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi (豊臣秀吉, 17 March 1537 – 18 September 1598), otherwise known as Kinoshita Tōkichirō (木下藤吉郎) and Hashiba Hideyoshi (羽柴秀吉), was a Japanese samurai and daimyō (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan. Although he came from a peasant background, his immense power earned him the rank and title of Kampaku (関白, Imperial Regent) and Daijō-daijin (太政大臣, Chancellor of the Realm), the highest official position and title in the nobility class. He was the first person in history to become a Kampaku who was not born a noble. He then passed the position and title of Kampaku to his nephew, Toyotomi Hidetsugu. He remained in power as Taikō (太閤), the title of retired Kampaku, until his death. It is believed, but not certain, that the reason he refused or could not obtain the title of shogun (征夷大将軍), the leader of the warrior class, was because he was of peasant origin. Hideyoshi rose from a peasant background as a retainer of the prominent lord Oda Nobunaga to become one of the most powerful men in Japanese history. Hideyoshi succeeded Nobunaga after the Honnō-ji Incident in 1582 and continued Nobunaga's campaign to unite Japan that led to the closing of the Sengoku period. Hideyoshi became the de facto leader of Japan and acquired the prestigious positions of daijō-daijin and kampaku by the mid-1580s. Hideyoshi launched the Japanese invasions of Korea in 1592 to initial success, but eventual military stalemate damaged his prestige before his death in 1598. Hideyoshi's young son and successor Toyotomi Hideyori was displaced by Tokugawa Ieyasu at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 which would lead to the founding of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Hideyoshi's rule covers most of the Azuchi–Momoyama period of Japan, partially named after his castle, Momoyama Castle. Hideyoshi left an influential and lasting legacy in Japan, including Osaka Castle, the Tokugawa class system, the restriction on the possession of weapons to the samurai, and the construction and restoration of many temples, some of which are still visible in Kyoto.

4. Emperor Jimmu (-711 - -585)

With an HPI of 72.93, Emperor Jimmu is the 4th most famous Japanese Politician. His biography has been translated into 59 different languages.

Emperor Jimmu (神武天皇, Jinmu-tennō) was the legendary first emperor of Japan according to the Nihon Shoki and Kojiki. His ascension is traditionally dated as 660 BC. In Japanese mythology, he was a descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu, through her grandson Ninigi, as well as a descendant of the storm god Susanoo. He launched a military expedition from Hyūga near the Seto Inland Sea, captured Yamato, and established this as his center of power. In modern Japan, Emperor Jimmu's legendary accession is marked as National Foundation Day on February 11. There is no evidence to suggest that Jimmu existed and is regarded by most modern scholars as a legendary figure.

5. Shinzō Abe (1954 - 2022)

With an HPI of 72.35, Shinzō Abe is the 5th most famous Japanese Politician. His biography has been translated into 133 different languages.

Shinzo Abe ( SHIN-zoh AH-bay; Japanese: 安倍晋三, Hepburn: Abe Shinzō, IPA: [abe ɕindzoː]; 21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. He was the longest-serving prime minister in Japanese history, serving for almost nine years in total. Abe also served as Chief Cabinet Secretary from 2005 to 2006 under Junichiro Koizumi and was briefly the opposition leader in 2012. Abe was born into the prominent Satō–Kishi–Abe family in Tokyo as the grandson of Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi. After graduating from Seikei University and briefly attending the University of Southern California, Abe was elected to the Japanese House of Representatives in the 1993 election. Abe was appointed Chief Cabinet Secretary by Prime Minister Koizumi in 2005 before replacing him as prime minister and LDP president the following year. Confirmed by the National Diet, Abe became Japan's youngest post-war prime minister and the first born after World War II. Abe resigned as prime minister a year later due to ulcerative colitis and his party's recent election losses. After recovering, Abe staged an unexpected political comeback by defeating Shigeru Ishiba, the former defense minister, to become LDP president in 2012. Following the LDP's landslide victory in that year's general election, Abe became the first former prime minister to return to office since Shigeru Yoshida in 1948. He led the LDP to further victories in the 2014 and 2017 elections, becoming Japan's longest-serving prime minister. In 2020, Abe again resigned as prime minister, citing a relapse of his colitis, and was succeeded by Yoshihide Suga. Abe was a staunch conservative and associated with the Nippon Kaigi, which holds negationist views on Japanese history, including denying the role of government coercion in the recruitment of comfort women during World War II, a position which caused tensions particularly with South Korea. Under his premiership, Japan–South Korea relations further strained in 2019 over disputes about reparations. Earlier that same year, Abe's government initiated a trade dispute with South Korea after the South Korean Supreme Court ruled that reparations be made by Japanese companies who had benefited from forced labor. Abe was considered a hard-liner with respect to Japan's military policies. In 2007, he initiated the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue during his first tenure as prime minister, aimed at resisting China's rise as a superpower. He advocated for amending Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution to legally codify the status of the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF). However, this was never achieved during his lifetime. He enacted military reforms in 2015 that allowed Japan to exercise collective security by allowing JSDF deployments overseas, the passage of which was controversial and met with protests. Economically, Abe attempted to counter Japan's economic stagnation with "Abenomics", with mixed results. He was also credited with reinstating the Trans-Pacific Partnership with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. On 8 July 2022, Abe was assassinated while delivering a campaign speech in Nara two days before the 10 July upper house elections. The suspect Tetsuya Yamagami, who was immediately arrested by Japanese police, confessed to targeting the former prime minister because of Abe's reported ties with the Unification Church. This was the first assassination of a former Japanese prime minister since 1936. A polarizing figure in Japanese politics, Abe was described by supporters as having worked to strengthen Japan's security and international stature, while opponents described his nationalistic policies and negationist views on history as threatening Japanese pacifism and damaging relations with East Asian neighbors including China and South Korea.

6. Hideki Tojo (1884 - 1948)

With an HPI of 70.97, Hideki Tojo is the 6th most famous Japanese Politician. His biography has been translated into 74 different languages.

Hideki Tojo (東條英機, Tōjō Hideki, pronounced [toːʑoː çideki] ; 30 December 1884 – 23 December 1948) was a Japanese politician, military leader and convicted war criminal who served as prime minister of Japan and president of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association from 1941 to 1944 during World War II. He assumed several more positions including chief of staff of the Imperial Army before ultimately being removed from power in July 1944. During his years in power, his leadership was marked by extreme state-perpetrated violence in the name of Japanese ultranationalism, much of which he was personally involved in. Tojo was born to a relatively low-ranking former samurai family in the Kōjimachi district of Tokyo. He began his career in the Army in 1902 and steadily rose through the ranks to become a general of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) by 1934. In March 1937, he was promoted to chief of staff of the Kwantung Army whereby he led military operations against the Chinese in Inner Mongolia and the Chahar-Suiyan provinces. By July 1940, he was appointed minister of the army in the Japanese government led by Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe. On the eve of the Second World War's expansion into Asia and the Pacific, Tojo was an outspoken advocate for a preemptive attack on the United States and its European allies. Upon being appointed prime minister on 17 October 1941, he oversaw the Empire of Japan's decision to go to war as well as its ensuing conquest of much of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands in the Pacific Theater of World War II. During the course of the war, Tojo presided over numerous war crimes, including the massacre and starvation of civilians and prisoners of war, as part of the wider Asian Holocaust. After the war's tide decisively turned against Japan, Tojo resigned as prime minister on 18 July 1944. Following his nation's surrender to the Allied powers in September 1945, he was arrested, convicted by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in the Tokyo Trials, sentenced to death, and hanged on 23 December 1948. To this day, Tojo's complicity in the July 1937 invasion of China, the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and numerous acts of mass murder have firmly intertwined his legacy with the Empire of Japan's warmongering brutality during the early Shōwa era.

7. Sasaki Kojirō (1583 - 1612)

With an HPI of 69.67, Sasaki Kojirō is the 7th most famous Japanese Politician. His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Sasaki Kojirō (佐々木小次郎, also known as Ganryū Kojirō; c. 1585 – April 13, 1612) was a Japanese swordsman who may have lived during the Azuchi–Momoyama and early Edo periods and is known primarily for the story of his duel with Miyamoto Musashi in 1612, where Sasaki was killed. Although suffering from defeat as well as death at the hands of Musashi, he is a revered and respected warrior in Japanese history and culture. Later Miyamoto proclaimed that Sasaki Kojirō was the strongest opponent he faced in his life.

8. Lee Myung-bak (b. 1941)

With an HPI of 69.61, Lee Myung-bak is the 8th most famous Japanese Politician. His biography has been translated into 67 different languages.

Lee Myung-bak (Korean: 이명박; ; Korean: [i.mjʌŋ.bak̚]; born 19 December 1941) often referred to by his initials MB, is a South Korean businessman and politician who served as the 10th (17th election) president of South Korea from 2008 to 2013. Before his presidency, he was the CEO of Hyundai Engineering and Construction, and the mayor of Seoul from 2002 to 2006. He is married to Kim Yoon-ok and has three daughters and one son. His older brother, Lee Sang-deuk, is a South Korean politician. He is a Christian attending Somang Presbyterian Church. Lee is a graduate of Korea University and received an honorary degree from Paris Diderot University in 2011. Lee altered the South Korean government's approach to North Korea, preferring a more hardline strategy in the wake of increased provocation from the North, though he was supportive of regional dialogue with Russia, China and Japan. Under Lee, South Korea increased its visibility and influence in the global scene, resulting in the hosting of the 2010 G-20 Seoul summit. However, significant controversy remains in Korea regarding high-profile government initiatives which have caused some factions to engage in civil opposition and protest against the incumbent government and President Lee's Saenuri Party (formerly the Grand National Party). The reformist faction within the Saenuri Party was at odds with Lee. He ended his five-year term on 24 February 2013, and was succeeded by Park Geun-hye. On 22 March 2018, Lee was arrested on charges of bribery, embezzlement, and tax evasion alleged to have occurred during his presidency. Prosecutors accused Lee of receiving bribes totaling 11 billion won and channeling assets of 35 billion won to an illicit slush fund. Shortly before his arrest, Lee posted a handwritten statement on Facebook denying the charges. Lee's arrest occurred roughly a year after the arrest of former president Park Geun-Hye, who was arrested on charges stemming from the 2016 South Korean political scandal. Lee was convicted on 5 October 2018 and sentenced to 15 years in prison. On 29 October 2020, the Korean Supreme Court upheld a 17-year sentence against Lee given to him by an appellate court. On 27 December 2022, President Yoon Suk-yeol granted Lee a special pardon, cancelling the remaining 15 years of the sentence.

9. Itō Hirobumi (1841 - 1909)

With an HPI of 69.44, Itō Hirobumi is the 9th most famous Japanese Politician. His biography has been translated into 61 different languages.

Prince Itō Hirobumi (伊藤博文, 16 October 1841 – 26 October 1909) was a Japanese politician and statesman who served as the first Prime Minister of Japan. He was also a leading member of the genrō, a group of senior statesmen that dictated Japanese policy during the Meiji era. He was born as Hayashi Risuke, also known as Hirofumi, Hakubun, and briefly during his youth as Itō Shunsuke. A London-educated samurai of the Chōshū Domain and a central figure in the Meiji Restoration, Itō Hirobumi chaired the bureau which drafted the Constitution for the newly formed Empire of Japan. Looking to the West for inspiration, Itō rejected the United States Constitution as too liberal and the Spanish Restoration as too despotic. Instead, he drew on British and German models, particularly the Prussian Constitution of 1850. Dissatisfied with Christianity's pervasiveness in European legal precedent, he replaced such religious references with those rooted in the more traditionally Japanese concept of a kokutai or "national polity" which hence became the constitutional justification for imperial authority. During the 1880s, Itō emerged as the leading figure among the Meiji oligarchy. By 1885, he became the first Prime Minister of Japan, a position he went on to hold four times (thereby making his tenure one of the longest in Japanese history). Even out of office as the nation's head of government, he continued to wield vast influence over Japan's policies as a permanent imperial adviser, or genkun, and the President of the Emperor's Privy Council. A staunch monarchist, Itō favored a large, all-powerful bureaucracy that answered solely to the Emperor and opposed the formation of political parties. His third term as prime minister was ended in 1898 by the opposition's consolidation into the Kenseitō party, prompting him to found the Rikken Seiyūkai party to counter its rise. In 1901, he resigned his fourth and final ministry upon tiring of party politics. On the world stage, Itō presided over an ambitious foreign policy. He strengthened diplomatic ties with the Western powers including Germany, the United States and especially the United Kingdom. In Asia, he oversaw the First Sino-Japanese War and negotiated the surrender of China's ruling Qing dynasty on terms aggressively favourable to Japan, including the annexation of Taiwan and the release of Korea from the Chinese Imperial tribute system. While expanding his country's claims in Asia, Itō sought to avoid conflict with the Russian Empire through the policy of Man-Kan kōkan – the proposed surrender of Manchuria to Russia's sphere of influence in exchange for recognition of Japanese hegemony in Korea. However, in a diplomatic visit to Saint Petersburg in November 1901, Itō found Russian authorities completely unreceptive to such terms. Consequently, Japan's incumbent prime minister, Katsura Tarō, elected to abandon the pursuit of Man-Kan kōkan, which resulted in an escalation of tensions culminating in the Russo-Japanese War. After Japanese forces emerged victorious over Russia, the ensuing Japan–Korea Treaty of 1905 made Itō the first Japanese Resident-General of Korea. He consented to the total annexation of Korea in response to pressure from the increasingly powerful Imperial Army. Shortly thereafter, he resigned as Resident-General in 1909 and assumed office once again as President of the Imperial Privy Council. Four months later, Itō was assassinated by Korean-independence activist and nationalist An Jung-geun in Harbin, Manchuria. The annexation process was formalised by another treaty in 1910 which brought Korea under Japanese rule, following year after Itō's death. Through his daughter Ikuko, Itō was the father-in-law of politician, intellectual and author Suematsu Kenchō.

10. Emperor Kōmei (1831 - 1867)

With an HPI of 69.38, Emperor Kōmei is the 10th most famous Japanese Politician. His biography has been translated into 48 different languages.

Osahito (22 July 1831 – 30 January 1867), posthumously honored as Emperor Kōmei, was the 121st emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Kōmei's reign spanned the years from 1846 through 1867, corresponding to the final years of the Edo period. During his reign there was much internal turmoil as a result of Japan's first major contact with the United States, which occurred under Commodore Perry in 1853 and 1854, and the subsequent forced re-opening of Japan to western nations, ending a 220-year period of national seclusion. Emperor Kōmei did not care much for anything foreign, and he opposed opening Japan to Western powers. His reign would continue to be dominated by insurrection and partisan conflicts eventually culminating in the collapse of the Tokugawa shogunate shortly after his death and the Meiji Restoration in the beginning of the reign of his son and successor Emperor Meiji.

People

Pantheon has 370 people classified as Japanese politicians born between 711 BC and 1997. Of these 370, 64 (17.30%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Japanese politicians include Lee Myung-bak, Fumio Kishida, and Yoshihide Suga. The most famous deceased Japanese politicians include Hirohito, Emperor Meiji, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. As of April 2024, 15 new Japanese politicians have been added to Pantheon including Tokugawa Mitsukuni, Ōtomo Sōrin, and Nakayama Yoshiko.