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Imperial conferment of decorations

TOKYO, Japan, May 14 Kyodo - Recipients of Japanese grand cordons pose for photos following a ceremony of conferment at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on May 9, 2025. Former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan (9th from L) and former speaker of the House of Representatives Tadamori Oshima (10th from L) received the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers, while International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach (2nd from L) was among the recipients of the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun. (Kyodo)

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Imperial conferment of decorations

Japanese Emperor Naruhito (L) confers the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers to former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on May 9, 2025. (Pool photo)

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Imperial conferment of decorations

Former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan (R) heads to a ceremony to receive the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on May 9, 2025.

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Japan, China, S. Korea trilateral summit in Tokyo

TOKYO, Japan, May 9 Kyodo - (From L) Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and South Korean President Lee Myung Bak smile at the end of a joint press conference following their talks at the State Guest House in Tokyo on May 22, 2011. (Pool photo)

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PM Kan enters office

TOKYO, Japan - Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan walks into the prime minister's office in Tokyo on Aug. 18, 2010.

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Miyazaki governor asks Kan to back revival of livestock farming

TOKYO, Japan - Miyazaki Gov. Hideo Higashikokubaru (L) and Prime Minister Naoto Kan shake hands at the premier's office in Tokyo on Aug. 16, 2010. The governor asked Kan to support a fund to be set up to help revive local livestock farming, which has been hit hard by a recent epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease.

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Miyazaki governor asks Kan to back revival of livestock farming

TOKYO, Japan - Miyazaki Gov. Hideo Higashikokubaru answers questions from reporters after meeting Prime Minister Naoto Kan at the premier's office in Tokyo on Aug. 16, 2010. The governor asked Kan to support a fund to be set up to help revive local livestock farming, which has been hit hard by a recent epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease.

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Miyazaki governor asks Kan to back revival of livestock farming

TOKYO, Japan - Miyazaki Gov. Hideo Higashikokubaru (L) and Prime Minister Naoto Kan meet at the premier's office in Tokyo on Aug. 16, 2010. The governor asked Kan to support a fund to be set up to help revive local livestock farming, which has been hit hard by a recent epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease.

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Japan marks 65th anniversary of WWII's end

TOKYO, Japan - Prime Minister Naoto Kan pledges to maintain Japan's commitment not to engage in war and vowed to contribute to world peace at a government ceremony marking the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II in Tokyo on Aug. 15, 2010.

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Kan skips visit to Yasukuni Shrine

TOKYO, Japan - Opposition Liberal Democratic Party President Sadakazu Tanigaki visits the war-related Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II on Aug. 15, 2010. Neither Prime Minister Naoto Kan nor any of his Cabinet members visited the shrine that day.

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Japan marks 65th anniversary of WWII's end

TOKYO, Japan - Prime Minister Naoto Kan offers a bouquet at Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery in Tokyo on Aug. 15, 2010. Japan marked the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II that day.

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Kan skips visit to Yasukuni Shrine

TOKYO, Japan - A group of lawmakers visit the war-related Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II on Aug. 15, 2010. Neither Prime Minister Naoto Kan nor any of his Cabinet members visited the shrine that day.

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Japan marks 65th anniversary of WWII's end

TOKYO, Japan - Prime Minister Naoto Kan offers a bouquet at Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery in Tokyo on Aug. 15, 2010. Japan marked the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II that day.

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N. Korea envoy lashes out at Japan

PYONGYANG, North Korea - Song Il Ho, North Korean ambassador for normalization talks with Japan, speaks during an interview at a hotel in Pyongyang on Aug. 13, 2010. Song said North Korea is ''disappointed'' by Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan's recent apology only to South Korea over Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

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N. Korea envoy lashes out at Japan

PYONGYANG, North Korea - Song Il Ho, North Korean ambassador for normalization talks with Japan, speaks during an interview at a hotel in Pyongyang on Aug. 13, 2010. Song said North Korea is ''disappointed'' by Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan's recent apology only to South Korea over Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

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Ex-PM Kan speaks to his supporters

TOKYO, Japan - Former Prime Minister Naoto Kan of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan addresses his supporters in Tokyo on Dec. 15, 2014, a day after securing his lower house seat under the proportional representation system, despite having been defeated in the single-seat electoral district.

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DPJ's Kan defeated in single-seat race

TOKYO, Japan - Election campaign posters for Naoto Kan, a former prime minister and candidate of the major opposition Democratic Party of Japan in the lower house election, are displayed at his campaign office in Tokyo's Fuchu City on the night of Dec. 14, 2014. Kan was defeated in the single-seat electoral district, although he may be able to secure a seat under the proportional representation system.

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Ex-PM Kan delivers antinuclear power lecture in Seoul

SEOUL, South Korea - Former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan stresses the necessity of breaking with nuclear power during a meeting held at the South Korean National Assembly in Seoul on Oct. 11, 2014.

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Debriefing report on 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster

TOKYO, Japan - A debriefing report on the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster containing testimony by key officials, including then power plant manager Masao Yoshida and then Prime Minister Naoto Kan, is shown on Sept. 11, 2014. The government made the report public for the first time amid controversy over Yoshida's remarks in closed hearings.

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Former PM Kan on nuclear crisis

CANBERRA, Australia - Former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan (L) speaks at Australia's federal parliament building in Canberra on Aug. 26, 2014. Kan, who was Japan's prime minister at the time of the March 2011 nuclear disaster, called for the full disclosure of testimonies regarding the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

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DPJ to suspend membership of Kan

TOKYO, Japan - Former Prime Minister Naoto Kan leaves after attending the Democratic Party of Japan's executive meeting at its headquarters in Tokyo on July 26, 2013. The DPJ decided to suspend the membership of Kan for three months -- a reduction from an earlier proposed expulsion -- for his support of an independent candidate in the July 21, 2013, House of Councillors election in defiance of a party decision.

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DPJ debating whether to expel ex-PM Kan

TOKYO, Japan - Former Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who led the Democratic Party of Japan, leaves after attending a meeting of DPJ executives in Tokyo on July 24, 2013. The main opposition party discussed whether to expel Kan after he supported an independent candidate in the July 21, 2013, House of Councillors election in violation of party policy, but the party failed to reach a conclusion.

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DPJ asks ex-PM Kan to leave party

TOKYO, Japan - Democratic Party of Japan leader Banri Kaieda (standing) speaks during a meeting of DPJ executives in Tokyo on July 24, 2013. The main opposition party on the same day asked former DPJ leader and Prime Minister Naoto Kan (L) to leave the party for supporting an independent candidate in the July 21, 2013, House of Councillors election in violation of party policy, DPJ sources said.

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Ex-PM Kan shares Fukushima lessons in California

SAN DIEGO, United States - Former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan (L) and former U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko attend a symposium organized by Friends of the Earth, an environmental lobbying group, in San Diego, California, on June 4, 2013. Kan, who was prime minister at the time of the Fukushima nuclear disaster triggered by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, said how the Fukushima disaster changed his view of nuclear power and stressed the importance of a global network for antinuclear activists and renewable energy advocates to share their ideas and experiences.

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Japan general election

TOKYO, Japan - Former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan (L) of the Democratic Party of Japan shakes hands with supporters in Fuchu, Tokyo, at 3:32 a.m. on Dec. 17, 2012, after hearing the news that he secured a lower house seat in the Tokyo proportional representation block, even though he was defeated in a single-seat constituency in Tokyo, in a general election the previous day.

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Yosano to retire from politics

TOKYO, Japan - Undated file photo shows Japanese veteran lawmaker Kaoru Yosano. He will not run in the next general election and will retire from politics due to health problems, sources close to him said on Sept. 5, 2012. Yosano joined the Cabinet of then Prime Minister Naoto Kan as economic and fiscal policy minister in January 2011 and played a major role in drawing up Japan's controversial sales tax hike plan.

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Ex-Premier Kan testifies on Fukushima crisis

TOKYO, Japan - Former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan testifies on May 28, 2012, before a Diet-appointed panel in Tokyo investigating the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster.

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Ex-Premier Kan testifies on Fukushima crisis

TOKYO, Japan - Former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan testifies on May 28, 2012, before a Diet-appointed panel in Tokyo investigating the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster.

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Former Prime Minister Kan

TOKYO, Japan - Undated file photo shows former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan. Kan verbally lashed Tokyo Electric Power Co. officials shortly after the hydrogen explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in March 2011, ordering them to contain the crisis at all costs, company records showed March 15, 2012. ''It doesn't matter if the company executives aged around 60 die at the accident site. I'm going, too,'' Kan is quoted as saying, during his visit to TEPCO's headquarters in the early hours of March 15, 2011.

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Gov't meeting on March 11, 2011

TOKYO, Japan - File photo taken at the prime minister's office in Tokyo on March 11, 2011, shows Prime Minister Naoto Kan (3rd from L) speaking at a meeting. The Japanese government was aware of the possibility of a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on the same day, when the complex was crippled by the massive earthquake and tsunami that ravaged northeastern Japan, a summary of meetings of the government's nuclear emergency headquarters showed on March 9, 2012.

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Ex-PM Kan in interview

TOKYO, Japan - Former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan speaks during an interview with Kyodo News in Tokyo on Sept. 16, 2011. Kan said he learned shortly after the nuclear crisis erupted at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant that around 30 million people in Tokyo and surrounding prefectures may have to be evacuated in a worst-case scenario.

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Edano tapped as industry minister

TOKYO, Japan - Undated file photo shows Yukio Edano, who was chief Cabinet secretary in the Cabinet under former Prime Minister Naoto Kan. A government source said Sept. 12, 2011, that Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda will appoint Edano as new industry minister to succeed Yoshio Hachiro, who resigned over remarks that displeased people affected by the Fukushima nuclear crisis.

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Edano leaves prime minister's office

TOKYO, Japan - Yukio Edano (front R), who served as chief Cabinet secretary under former Prime Minister Naoto Kan, receives flowers as he leaves the prime minister's office in Tokyo on Sept. 5, 2011.

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Noda in appointment ceremony

TOKYO, Japan - Japan's new Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda (far R) is formally appointed by Emperor Akihito (2nd from L) during a ceremony at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Sept. 2, 2011. In the center is predecessor Prime Minister Naoto Kan. (Pool photo)

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Japan's new PM, first lady

TOKYO, Japan - Photo taken on Nov. 9, 2003, shows Yoshihiko Noda (L) and his wife Hitomi (R) celebrating Noda's victory in a House of Representatives election in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture. Noda launched his Cabinet on Sept. 2, 2011, succeeding Naoto Kan as Japan's prime minister.

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Kan leaves office

TOKYO, Japan - Japan's outgoing Prime Minister Naoto Kan receives flowers on Sept. 2, 2011, as he leaves the prime minister's office in Tokyo. Yoshihiko Noda, who served as finance minister under Kan, will succeed him.

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Disaster drills in Japan

TOKYO, Japan - Outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan (L) and Reconstruction Minister Tatsuo Hirano take part in a news conference at the prime minister's office on Sept. 1, 2011, as part of a disaster exercise. Emergency drills were held the same day across Japan in commemoration of the Great Kanto Earthquake on Sept. 1, 1923.

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Noda named as new Japanese premier

TOKYO, Japan - Democratic Party of Japan President Yoshihiko Noda (L, standing) shakes hands with outgoing Prime Minister Naoto Kan at the House of Representatives in Tokyo on Aug. 30, 2011, after he was picked as new prime minister of Japan following a lower house vote.

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Noda elected as new Japanese premier

TOKYO, Japan - Democratic Party of Japan President Yoshihiko Noda bows deeply, as outgoing Prime Minister Naoto Kan (R) applauds and looks on, at the House of Representatives in Tokyo on Aug. 30, 2011, after he was chosen as the next prime minister of Japan after a lower house vote in a plenary session.

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Kan's Cabinet resigns en masse

TOKYO, Japan - Members of the Cabinet of Prime Minister Naoto Kan (2nd from R) head to a meeting to resign en masse at the prime minister's office in Tokyo on Aug. 30, 2011. Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda (L) is set to succeed Kan as premier later in the day.

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Noda named as new Japanese premier

TOKYO, Japan - Democratic Party of Japan President Yoshihiko Noda (L, standing) is applauded by outgoing Prime Minister Naoto Kan (C) and other lawmakers at the House of Representatives in Tokyo on Aug. 30, 2011, after he was picked as new prime minister of Japan following a lower house vote.

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Noda picked as Japan premier

TOKYO, Japan - Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda (C) stands up after he was picked as prime minister at the House of Representatives in Tokyo on Aug. 30, 2001. He succeeds Naoto Kan.

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Gov't to provide tuition waivers to pro-Pyongyang schools

TOKYO, Japan - Japan's education minister Yoshiaki Takaki holds a press conference at the ministry in Tokyo on Aug. 29, 2011. Takaki said he was asked by Prime Minister Naoto Kan earlier in the day to resume screening procedures to provide tuition waivers to pro-Pyongyang high schools in Japan. The procedures have been frozen since a North Korean artillery attack on a South Korean island last November.

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Noda next Japan prime minister

TOKYO, Japan - Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda speaks during a press conference at a Tokyo hotel on Aug. 29, 2011, shortly after being elected president of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan. As the new ruling party leader, Noda is all-but-certain to also become Japan's new prime minister, succeeding Naoto Kan who announced his resignation on Friday.

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Noda to succeed Kan as Japan PM

TOKYO, Japan - Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda (3rd from L), outgoing Prime Minister Naoto Kan (3rd from R) and lawmakers who ran for the presidential election of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan -- former transport minister Sumio Mabuchi (L), farm minister Michihiko Kano (2nd from L), industry minister Banri Kaieda (2nd from R) and former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara (R) -- shake hands at a hotel in Tokyo on Aug. 29, 2011, after Noda was elected as the DPJ president. Noda will also succeed Kan as the Japanese prime minister.

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Noda to succeed Kan as Japan PM

TOKYO, Japan - Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda (3rd from L), outgoing Prime Minister Naoto Kan (3rd from R) and lawmakers who ran for the presidential election of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan -- former transport minister Sumio Mabuchi (L), farm minister Michihiko Kano (2nd from L), industry minister Banri Kaieda (2nd from R) and former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara (R) -- shake hands at a hotel in Tokyo on Aug. 29, 2011, after Noda was elected as the DPJ president. Noda will also succeed Kan as the Japanese prime minister.

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Noda next Japan prime minister

TOKYO, Japan - Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda (C) bows as he was elected president of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan in Tokyo on Aug. 29, 2011, winning a runoff with industry minister Banri Kaieda. Noda will succeed Prime Minister Naoto Kan.

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Noda next Japan prime minister

TOKYO, Japan - Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda (C) bows as he was elected president of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan in Tokyo on Aug. 29, 2011, winning a runoff with industry minister Banri Kaieda. Noda will succeed Prime Minister Naoto Kan.

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Noda next Japan prime minister

TOKYO, Japan - People watch a TV program announcing the election of Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda as the new president of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, at an electronics store in Tokyo on Aug. 29, 2011. Noda will succeed Prime Minister Naoto Kan.

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DPJ leader election

TOKYO, Japan - Japan's outgoing Prime Minister Naoto Kan (front) sits among fellow Democratic Party of Japan members at a meeting in Tokyo on Aug. 29, 2011, as candidates to succeed him as party leader and prime minister give speeches prior to a vote.