Born to an ex-samurai family in Hiji, Ōita Prefecture, Minami came to Tokyo as a boarding student, and was eventually accepted into the Imperial Japanese Army Academy.

Minami served in the Russo-Japanese War as a member of the headquarters staff and as a company commander in the 1st Cavalry Regiment, where he participated in the Siege of Port Arthur.

[4] His tenure in Korea was marked by a more hardline approach than his predecessors, with a rolling back of various liberal reforms of the 1920s.

After his term in Korea, Minami served as a member of the Privy Council from 1942 to 1945 and had a seat in the House of Peers in the Japanese Diet in 1945.

After World War II, Minami was arrested by the American Occupation authorities and brought before the International Military Tribunal for the Far East.