Ministerial Changes in Japan
The following table shows the Cabinet changes that have taken place since constitutional government was instituted:
| Premier. | Term of Office. | Yrs. | Mos. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yamagata | Dec. ’89-Apr. ’91 | 1 | 4 |
| Matsukata | May ’91-July ’92 | 1 | 2 |
| Itō | Aug. ’92-Aug. ’96 | 4 | 0 |
| Matsukata | Sept. ’96-Dec. ’97 | 1 | 3 |
| Ito | Jan. ’98-June ’98 | 0 | 5 |
| Okuma-Itagaki | June ’98-Oct. ’98 | 0 | 4 |
| Yamagata | Nov. ’98-Sept. ’00 | 1 | 10 |
| Itō | Oct. ’00-May ’01 | 0 | 7 |
| Katsura | June ’01-Dec. ’05 | 4 | 6 |
| Saionji | Jan. ’06-July ’08 | 2 | 6 |
| Katsura | July ’08-Aug. ’11 | 3 | 2 |
| Saionji | Sept. ’11-Dec. ’12 | 1 | 3 |
| Katsura | Dec. ’12-Feb. ’13 | 0 | 2 |
| Yamamoto | Feb. ’13- |
In connection with this table, we wish to call attention to the fact that the average duration of eleven Ministries is less than two years; and that the average was considerably raised by the unusual length of the two Ministries which covered the periods of the wars with China and Russia, when political rivalries were buried. It is quite probable that, if foreign wars had not occurred to unify the nation, those Ministries would not have had a duration so greatly in excess of the average, especially as, at the outbreak of the wars, party feeling was running very high. In that case the general average would have been reduced by an increase in the number of cabinets. It should also be noticed that three of these Ministries (both Matsukata and the second Itō) came to an end on account of collision with the Diet, and that four Ministries (the Kuroda, the first and third Itō, and the first party Cabinet of Ōkuma and Itagaki) were broken up by internal dissensions; and the last Katsura (February, 1913) was forced out by popular revolt.