The cabinet resigned after a year in office following the defeat in the 2009 general election, which the opposition Democratic Party won a majority in the House of Representatives.

[8] The cabinet enjoyed an approval rate of around 50% at the early stage, but sank to 20% in December 2008 according to the opinion polls by Japanese newspapers.

[16] On 17 February, Shōichi Nakagawa resigned as Minister of Finance after his drowsiness in a press conference of G7 meeting.

[25][26] Tarō Asō finally announced the decision on 13 July 2009 to dissolve the House of Representatives and hold an early general election on 30 August through an unusual notice.

Following their defeat, two cabinet ministers were criticised for giving up the last ministerial duties after being absent from the WTO meeting in September.

[32] Nariaki Nakayama resigned as Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism just five days after assuming office over controversial comments.

Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office Kenta Matsunami was sacked in January 2009 after voting abstain for amended budget.

In March, Koichi Hirata resigned as Deputy Minister of Finance for breaching ministerial code.