Muto Yoji has served as Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) since October 1, 2024 and was confirmed for a second term after the cabinet reshuffle on November 11, 2024. In this role he directs Japan’s effort to convert decades of seabed-mineral research into commercial ventures that can operate by 2030. His brief covers Green Transformation programs, industrial-competitiveness measures, and the economic recovery of Fukushima, all of which intersect with marine-mineral policy.

Raised in Gifu Prefecture, Muto earned a commerce degree from Keio University and then spent about twenty years managing his family’s construction-materials and sake businesses. He entered national politics in 2005, winning a House of Representatives seat for Gifu’s Second District. Cabinet experience followed: Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications in 2013, State Minister for Foreign Affairs in 2015, and Vice-Minister of METI from 2017 to 2018, where he also oversaw nuclear-disaster recovery. These posts gave him a solid record in economic security and critical-materials strategy.

After taking the METI portfolio, Muto began translating the March 22, 2024 “Plan for the Development of Marine Energy and Mineral Resources” into a timetable of concrete targets. METI’s draft fiscal-year 2025 budget earmarks several billion yen for JOGMEC pilot projects on polymetallic nodules, cobalt-rich crusts, and hydrothermal sulfides, though the exact line-item is still being finalized. He also approved a 5,000 meter test lift of rare-earth-rich mud off Minamitori Island, scheduled for January 2026, and has indicated that deep-sea initiatives could qualify for support under Japan’s twenty-trillion-yen Green Transformation bond program once technical guidelines are updated.

Internationally, Muto has raised marine-mineral standards in ongoing US-Japan and Australia-Japan critical-mineral dialogues, and he placed seabed supply chains on the agenda of the May 2025 Japan-EU High-Level Economic Dialogue. Similar discussions with the United Kingdom are expected at upcoming consultations.

In public statements he calls seabed minerals indispensable for battery and magnet supply chains while emphasizing that commercial activity must progress step by step under transparent, science-based environmental rules. He supports continued rule making at the International Seabed Authority and has said Japan will not authorize production unless impact thresholds are met.

By embedding marine-mineral development in economic security planning, climate policy, and green finance, Muto Yoji has given Japan’s deep-sea-mining agenda clear political leadership.