Okada Cabinet
The Okada Cabinet (岡田内閣 Okada naikaku) governed the Empire of Japan under the leadership of prime minister Keisuke Okada from 1934 to 1936. Okada was appointed on July 8, 1934 after predecessor Saitō Makoto had resigned over the Teijin Incident. Okada's appointment dashed hopes for a revival of political party influence, his cabinet was the second "national unity cabinet" (kyokoku itchi naikaku) after the Saitō Cabinet that had marked the end of the party rule of the 1920s and early 1930s, the so-called Taishō Democracy. Key ministers came from the bureaucracy and the military, other posts were held by politicians mostly from the minority Minseitō and the Shōwakai, a militarist breakaway group from the majority Seiyūkai that had refused to let its members join the Okada Cabinet.
After the attempted coup d'état in the February 26 Incident in 1936, the Okada Cabinet resigned. Following Genrō Kinmochi Saionji's recommendation, the emperor appointed foreign minister Kōki Hirota as successor leading to the formation of the Hirota Cabinet, another "national unity cabinet".
| Portfolio | Minister | Background | Imperial Diet membership |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prime Minister | Admiral Keisuke Okada | Retired Admiral of the Imperial Navy | – |
| Foreign Affairs | Kōki Hirota | Bureaucrat (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) | – |
| Internal Affairs | Fumio Gotō | Bureaucrat (Ministry of Internal Affairs) | House of Peers (Imperial appointment) |
| Finance | Sadanobu Fujii (until November 27, 1934) | Bureaucrat (Ministry of Finance) | – |
| Viscount Korekiyo Takahashi (until February 26, 1936) | Politician | – (formerly House of Peers, House of Representatives (Seiyūkai (expelled), Iwate)) | |
| Chūji Machida | Politician | House of Representatives (Minseitō, Akita 1st district) | |
| Army | General Senjūrō Hayashi (until September 5, 1935) | Army | – |
| General Yoshiyuki Kawashima | Army | – | |
| Navy | Admiral Mineo Ōsumi | Navy | – |
| Justice | Naoshi Ohara | Bureaucrat (Ministry of Justice) | |
| Education | Genji Matsuda (until February 1, 1936) | Politician | House of Representatives (Minseitō, Ōita 1) |
| Takukichi Kawasaki | Politician (Minseitō, former Ministry of Internal Affairs bureaucrat) | House of Peers (Imperial appointment) | |
| Agriculture and Forestry | Tatsunosuke Yamazaki | Politician | House of Representatives (Seiyūkai (expelled)→Shōwakai, Fukuoka 3) |
| Commerce and Industry | Chūji Machida | Politician | House of Representatives (Minseitō, Akita 1) |
| Communications | Takejirō Tokonami (until September 8, 1935) | Politician | House of Representatives (Seiyūkai (expelled), Kagoshima 1) |
| Admiral Keisuke Okada (until September 12, 1935) | Navy | – | |
| Keisuke Mochizuki | Politician | House of Representatives (Seiyūkai (expelled)→Shōwakai, Hiroshima 2) | |
| Railways | Nobuya Uchida | Politician | House of Representatives (Seiyūkai (expelled)→Shōwakai, Ibaraki 1) |
| Colonies | Admiral Keisuke Okada (until October 25, 1935) | Navy | – |
| Count Hideo Kodama | Bureaucrat (Ministry of the Colonies) | House of Peers | |
| Cabinet Secretariat | Isao Kawada (until October 20, 1934) | Bureaucrat (Ministry of Finance) | House of Peers (Imperial appointment) |
| Shigeru Yoshida (until May 11, 1935) | Bureaucrat (Ministry of Internal Affairs) | – | |
| Takesuke Shirane | Bureaucrat (Ministry of Internal Affairs) | ||
| Cabinet Legislation Bureau | Tokujirō Kanamori (until January 11, 1936) | Bureaucrat (Ministry of Finance/Cabinet Legislation Bureau) | – |
| Hachirō Ōhashi | Bureaucrat (Ministry of Communications) | House of Peers |
Note: House of Representatives membership as of 1934, not accounting for changes in the February 1936 general election.
External links
- Kantei, Japanese Cabinet: Okada Cabinet (Japanese)
- National Diet Library: Modern Japan in Archives, Crisis in Constitutional Politics