Ministerial meeting - Kakuryokaigi

... In the 20th century, the cabinet system in the country has demonstrated flexibility and strong leadership, as exemplified by the national unity cabinets of minority ministers during both world wars. On the other hand, the control of parliament over the cabinet, which was backed by a highly organized administrative and party bureaucratic apparatus, has weakened, and in response to the increasing number of cabinet agendas and the expansion of the work of the various ministries and agencies within the cabinet, decision-making power has been decentralized to various cabinet committees (cabinet conferences). As a result, the cabinet as a deliberative decision-making body has tended to shift from one side to the prime minister and a small number of inner cabinets, to the other side to an administrative bureaucracy.
[History in Japan]
An early example of the appearance of the term "cabinet" in Japanese legislation was in the 1873 Daijokan Act, which stated that "the cabinet shall be the center of government administration, with special appointments made by the Emperor to the Council of State to deliberate on the appropriateness of all legislative and administrative matters."

*Some of the terminology used in reference to the "Ministerial Meeting" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…　20世紀に入っても同国の内閣制は，両世界大戦期の挙国一致型少数閣僚内閣に代表されるように，柔軟な適応力と強い指導性とを発揮してきた。他方で高度に組織された行政および政党官僚機構を背後に持つ内閣に対し議会の統制力が弱まったこと，また閣内では増大する閣議事項や所管省庁事務の膨張に追われがちな閣僚個々の事情に対応して，各種閣内委員会(閣僚会議)への決定権の分散が進められたりしたことなどから，合議決定体としての内閣の実質は，一方では首相および少数のインナー･キャビネットへ，他方では行政官僚制へと移る傾向が著しい。
［日本における沿革］
　日本の法令に〈内閣〉が登場する早い例は1873年の太政官達にあり，〈内閣ハ天皇陛下参議ニ特任シテ諸立法ノ事及行政事務ノ当否ヲ議判セシメ凡百施政ノ機軸〉となるものとされた。…

※「閣僚会議」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報