Minister For Foreign Affairs (Japan)
The Minister for Foreign Affairs (外務大臣, Gaimu Daijin?) of Japan is the Cabinet member responsible for Japanese foreign policy and the chief executive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Since the end of the American occupation of Japan, the position has been one of the most powerful in the Cabinet, as Japan's economic interests have long relied on external relations. The recent efforts of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to establish a more interventionist foreign policy have also heightened the importance of the position.
The position is currently held by Kōichirō Genba.
Read more about Minister For Foreign Affairs (Japan): List of Ministers
Famous quotes containing the words minister, foreign and/or affairs:
“He had a gentleman-like frankness in his behaviour, and as a great point of honour as a minister can have, especially a minister at the head of the treasury, where numberless sturdy and insatiable beggars of condition apply, who cannot all be gratified, nor all with safety be refused.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“For my name and memory I leave to men’s charitable speeches, and to foreign nations and the next ages.”
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626)
“I repeat that in this sense the most splendid court in Christendom is provincial, having authority to consult about Transalpine interests only, and not the affairs of Rome. A prætor or proconsul would suffice to settle the questions which absorb the attention of the English Parliament and the American Congress.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)