Minoru Kihara (木原 稔, Kihara Minoru, born August 12, 1969) is a Japanese politician who has served as the Minister of Defense since September 2023. A member of the Liberal Democratic Party, he also serves in the House of Representatives, and was previously the Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Defense. A native of Kumamoto and graduate of Waseda University, he was elected for the first time in 2005 after working at Japan Airlines until 2004.^[1]

Kihara Minoru
木原 稔
Minoru Kihara in 2019
25th Minister of Defense
Incumbent
Assumed office 13 September 2023
Prime Minister	Fumio Kishida
Preceded by	Yasukazu Hamada
Member of the House of Representatives
Incumbent
Assumed office 11 September 2005 - 21 July 2009 18 December 2012
Preceded by	Yorihisa Matsuno
Constituency	Kyushu PR block (2005-2009) Kumamoto 1st district (2012-present)
Personal details
Born	(1969-08-12) 12 August 1969 (age 54) Kumamoto, Japan
Political party	Liberal Democratic Party
Alma mater	Waseda University

Kihara announced on September 15, 2023 that he resigned from a cross-party group that enhances Japanese-Taiwanese relations.^[2]