Ministry of Defense (Japan)

The Ministry of Defense (防衛省, Bōei-shō) is a cabinet-level ministry of the Government of Japan. It is headquartered in Shinjuku, Tokyo, and is the largest organ of the Japanese government: in 2009, fixed personnel numbered 271,094, including 248,303 military personnel. The Ministry of Defense, as cabinet-level ministry, is required by Article 66 of the constitution to be completely subordinate to civilian authority. Its head is the Minister of Defense. Before its transition to a cabinet-level ministry, it was the Japanese Defense Agency (防衛庁, Bōei-chō^?), an agency of the Cabinet Office.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry of Defense (Japan)