Fumio Kishida

Fumio Kishida (岸田 文雄) is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) who served as the 100th and 101st Prime Minister of Japan from 4 October 2021 until 1 October 2024, when he was succeeded by Shigeru Ishiba. Born in Tokyo in 1957 and elected to the House of Representatives for Hiroshima in 1993, Kishida leads the LDP faction historically known as Kōchikai, a grouping associated with moderate, dovish positions within the party.

Before becoming prime minister, Kishida served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2012 to 2017 under Shinzō Abe, making him one of the longest-serving foreign ministers in postwar Japan. In that role he helped negotiate the December 2015 Japan–South Korea agreement on the "comfort women" issue and hosted U.S. President Barack Obama's historic 2016 visit to Hiroshima.

As prime minister, Kishida promoted a domestic agenda he called "new capitalism" (atarashii shihonshugi), emphasising wage growth and wealth redistribution. On security, his government adopted three revised strategic documents in December 2022 — the National Security Strategy, National Defense Strategy, and Defense Buildup Program — committing Japan to acquire counterstrike capabilities and to raise defence spending toward 2% of GDP by FY2027. He also deepened trilateral cooperation with the United States and South Korea, notably at the Camp David summit with Joe Biden and Yoon Suk-yeol in August 2023, and hosted the G7 Hiroshima Summit in May 2023.

His tenure was shadowed by the aftermath of Abe's assassination in July 2022, scrutiny of LDP ties to the Unification Church, and a political-funds scandal involving faction kickbacks that prompted Kishida to dissolve his own faction in January 2024. Falling cabinet approval ratings led him to announce in August 2024 that he would not seek re-election as LDP president.