The Prime Minister of Japan (内閣総理大臣, Naikaku-sōri-daijin?) is the head of government of Japan. He is appointed by the Emperor of Japan after being designated by the Diet from among its members, and must enjoy the confidence of the House of Representatives to remain in office. He is the head of the Cabinet and appoints and dismisses the Ministers of State; the literal translation of the Japanese name for the office is Minister for the Comprehensive Administration of the Cabinet or Minister that Presides over the Cabinet.
The office was created in 1885, four years before the enactment of the Meiji Constitution. It took its current form with the adoption of the current constitution in 1947.
The current Prime Minister is Yoshihiko Noda, who took the post on 2 September 2011.
Read more about Prime Minister Of Japan: Appointment, Qualifications, Insignia, History, Official Office and Residence, Honours and Emoluments, List of Prime Ministers From 1982 - 2012, Lists of Prime Ministers of Japan
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“One wants in a Prime Minister a good many things, but not very great things. He should be clever but need not be a genius; he should be conscientious but by no means strait-laced; he should be cautious but never timid, bold but never venturesome; he should have a good digestion, genial manners, and, above all, a thick skin.”
—Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)
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