Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry

NISHIMURA Yasutoshi

Mr. Nishimura Yasutoshi was reappointed Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) on September 13, 2023.

He is also Minister in charge of the Response to the Economic Impact caused by the Nuclear Accident, Minister for Green Transformation, Minister in charge of Industrial Competitiveness, Minister for Economic Cooperation with Russia, and Minister of State for the Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation. Mr. Nishimura’s reappointment extends his tenure as METI Minister which started in August 2022.

Immediately prior to becoming METI Minister, Mr. Nishimura served in senior roles within the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Between 2019 and 2021, Mr. Nishimura served as Minister in charge of Economic Revitalization. At this time, he also held ministerial positions overseeing social security reform and measures to address COVID 19 infections in Japan.

Mr. Nishimura serves as a member of Japan’s House of Representatives representing the Hyogo 9th Electoral District. He first won election to the House of Representatives in November 2003 and has successfully won reelection 6 times. Before seeking elected office, Mr. Nishimura served for 14 years as a public official at the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), the predecessor agency to METI. He joined the Ministry directly after graduating from the University of Tokyo’s Faculty of Law.

Mr. Nishimura also studied in the US, graduating from the Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Maryland.

He was born on October 15, 1962, in Hyogo Prefecture, in Japan’s Kansai region.