| Post: | Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology |
| Insignia: | Goshichi no kiri.svg |
| Insigniasize: | 80px |
| Insigniacaption: | Emblem of the Government of Japan |
| Incumbent: | Toshiko Abe |
| Incumbentsince: | 1 October 2024 |
| Department: | Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology |
| Style: | His Excellency |
| Member Of: | Cabinet of Japan |
| Reports To: | Prime Minister of Japan |
| Nominator: | Prime Minister of Japan |
| Appointer: | Emperor of Japan |
| Appointer Qualified: | attested to by the Emperor |
| Precursor: | Minister of Education Director-General of the Science and Technology Agency |
| Deputy: | State Minister of Education |
| Salary: | ¥20,916,000 |
The is a member of the Cabinet of Japan and is the leader and chief executive of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The minister is nominated by the Prime Minister of Japan and is appointed by the Emperor of Japan.
The current minister is Toshiko Abe, who took office on 1 October 2024.
| Minister | Term of office | Prime Minister | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portrait | width=180px | Name | Took office | Left office | Days | ||||
| 1 | Nobutaka Machimura | January 6, 2001 | April 26, 2001 | Yoshiro Mori | |||||
| 2 | Atsuko Tōyama | April 26, 2001 | September 22, 2003 | Junichiro Koizumi | |||||
| 3 | Takeo Kawamura | September 22, 2003 | September 27, 2004 | ||||||
| 4 | Nariaki Nakayama | September 27, 2004 | October 31, 2005 | ||||||
| 5 | Kenji Kosaka | October 31, 2005 | September 26, 2006 | ||||||
| 6 | Bunmei Ibuki | September 26, 2006 | September 26, 2007 | Shinzo Abe | |||||
| 7 | Kisaburo Tokai | September 26, 2007 | August 2, 2008 | Yasuo Fukuda | |||||
| 8 | Tsuneo Suzuki | August 2, 2008 | September 24, 2008 | ||||||
| 9 | Ryū Shionoya | September 24, 2008 | September 16, 2009 | Taro Aso | |||||
| 10 | Tatsuo Kawabata | September 16, 2009 | September 17, 2010 | Yukio Hatoyama | |||||
| Naoto Kan | |||||||||
| 11 | Yoshiaki Takaki | September 17, 2010 | September 2, 2011 | ||||||
| 12 | Masaharu Nakagawa | September 2, 2011 | January 13, 2012 | Yoshihiko Noda | |||||
| 13 | Hirofumi Hirano | January 13, 2012 | October 1, 2012 | ||||||
| 14 | Makiko Tanaka | October 1, 2012 | December 26, 2012 | ||||||
| 15 | Hakubun Shimomura | December 26, 2012 | October 7, 2015 | Shinzo Abe | |||||
| 16 | Hiroshi Hase | October 7, 2015 | August 3, 2016 | ||||||
| 17 | Hirokazu Matsuno | August 3, 2016 | August 3, 2017 | ||||||
| 18 | Yoshimasa Hayashi | August 3, 2017 | October 2, 2018 | ||||||
| 19 | Masahiko Shibayama | October 2, 2018 | September 11, 2019 | ||||||
| 20 | Kōichi Hagiuda | September 11, 2019 | October 4, 2021 | Yoshihide Suga | |||||
| 21 | Shinsuke Suematsu | October 4, 2021 | August 10, 2022 | Fumio Kishida | |||||
| 22 | Keiko Nagaoka | August 10, 2022 | September 13, 2023 | ||||||
| 23 | Masahito Moriyama | September 13, 2023 | October 1, 2024 | ||||||
| 24 | Toshiko Abe | October 1, 2024 | Incumbent | Shigeru Ishiba | |||||