Takahashi Korekiyo

In thisJapanese name,thesurnameisTakahashi.

ViscountTakahashi Korekiyo(Cao kiều là thanh,27 July 1854 – 26 February 1936)was a Japanesepoliticianwho served asprime minister of Japanfrom 1921 to 1922 andMinister of Financewhen he was assassinated. He was also a member of theHouse of Peersand head of theBank of Japan.

Senior Second Rank Viscount Takahashi Korekiyo
Cao kiều là thanh
Prime Minister of Japan
In office 15 May 1932 – 26 May 1932 Acting
Monarch	Hirohito
Preceded by	Inukai Tsuyoshi
Succeeded by	Saitō Makoto
In office 13 November 1921 – 12 June 1922
Monarch	Yoshihito
Regent	Hirohito
Preceded by	Uchida Kōsai(Acting)
Succeeded by	Katō Tomosaburō
Member of the House of Peers
In office 29 January 1905 – 24 March 1924
Member of the House of Representatives for Iwate 1st District
In office 10 May 1924 – 21 January 1928
Personal details
Born	(1854-07-27)27 July 1854 Edo,Japan
Died	26 February 1936(1936-02-26)(aged 81) Akasaka,Tokyo,Japan
Manner of death	Assassination(gunshot wound)
Resting place	Tama Reien Cemetery, Fuchū,Tokyo
Political party	Rikken Seiyūkai
Spouse	Takahashi Sina(1865–1936)
Signature

Takahashi made many contributions to Japan's development during the early 20th century, including introducing its firstpatentsystem and securing foreign financing for theRusso-Japanese War.Following the onset of theGreat Depression,he introduced controversial financial policies which included abandoning thegold standard,lowering interest rates, and using theBank of Japanto financedeficit spendingby the central government. His decision to cut government spending in 1935 led to unrest within the Japanese military, who assassinated him in February 1936. Takahashi's policies are credited for pulling Japan out of the Depression, but led to soaring inflation following his assassination, as Takahashi's successors became highly reluctant to cut off funding to the government.

Early life

Takahashi was born inEdo(modern-day Tokyo), while Japan was still under theTokugawa shogunate.He was the illegitimate son of a court painter in residence atEdo Castle,and adopted as the son of Takahashi Kakuji, a low-rankingsamuraiin the service of theDatedaimyōofSendai Domain.He studied theEnglish languageand American culture in a private school run by the missionaryJames Hepburn(the forerunner ofMeiji Gakuin University). On 25 July 1867, he set sail from Japan toOakland, California,in theUnited States,and found employment as a menial laborer. Another version of the story has it that he went to the United States to study, but was sold as a slave by his landlord and only with some difficulty was he able to return to Japan.

Career

Korekiyo Takahashi, 1934

After his return to Japan in 1868, Takahashi taught English conversation. He later became the first master of theKyōryū Gakkōhigh school in Tokyo (currentlyKaisei Academy), and at the same time worked as a low-ranking bureaucrat in theMinistry of Education,and then in theMinistry of Agriculture and Commerce.He was appointed as the first chief of the Bureau of Patents, a department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, and helped organized thepatentsystem in Japan. At one point, he resigned his government positions and went toPeruto start a silver mining enterprise, but failed.

Takahashi became an employee of theBank of Japanin 1892, and his talents were soon recognized, as he rose to become vice-president in 1898.

During and after theRusso-Japanese Warof 1904–1905, Takahashi raised foreign loans that were critical to Japan's war effort. He met personally with American financierJacob Schiff, who floated half of Japan's loans in the U.S.He also raised loans from theRothschild familyin Britain.

For this success, he was appointed to theHouse of Peersof theDiet of Japanin 1905.

Takahashi was named president of theYokohama Specie Bankin 1906. He was made abaron(danshaku) under thekazokupeerage system in 1907.

Takahashi was Governor of the Bank of Japan from 1 June 1911, through 20 February 1913.

Political offices

Takahashi Korekiyo, late 1920s

In 1913, Takahashi was appointedMinister of FinancebyPrime MinisterYamamoto Gonnohyōeand then joined theRikken Seiyūkaipolitical party. He was re-appointed by Prime MinisterHara Takashiin 1918. In 1920, Takahashi's title was elevated toviscount(shishaku). After Hara was assassinated in 1921, Takahashi was appointed both Prime Minister and theRikken Seiyūkaiparty president.

Takahashi was the second Christian Prime Minister in Japanese history. His term lasted less than seven months, primarily due to his inability as an outsider to control the factions in his party, and his lack of a power base in the party.

After resigning as Prime Minister, Takahashi still retained the position of president of theRikken Seiyūkai.He resigned his seat in the House of Peers in 1924, and was elected to a seat in theLower Houseof the Diet of Japan in the1924 General Election.WhenKatō Takaakibecame the prime minister and set up a coalition cabinet in 1924, Takahashi accepted the post of Minister of Agriculture and Commerce. He divided the department into theMinistry of Agriculture and Forestryand theMinistry of Commerce and Industry.Takahashi resigned from theRikken Seiyūkaiin 1925.

Death

Takahashi served as Finance Minister under the administrations ofTanaka Giichi(1927–1929),Inukai Tsuyoshi(1931–1932),Saitō Makoto(1932–1934) andOkada Keisuke(1934–1936). To bring Japan out of theGreat Depression of 1929,he instituted dramatically expansionary monetary and fiscal policy, abandoning thegold standardin December 1931, and running deficits.Despite considerable success, his fiscal policies involving reduction of military expenditures created many enemies within the military; and he was among those assassinated by rebelling military officers in theFebruary 26 Incidentof 1936. His grave is at the Tama Reien Cemetery inFuchū, Tokyo.Along with Saitō Makoto (who was also assassinated during the Incident), Takahashi would be the last former Japanese prime minister to be assassinated untilShinzo Abe'sassassination86 years later in 2022.

Honours

From the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia

Peerages

• Baron(23 September 1907)
• Viscount(7 September 1920)

Decorations

• Grand Cordon of theOrder of the Sacred Treasure(1 April 1906; 5th Class: 28 December 1902; 6th Class: 25 October 1889)
• Grand Cordon of theOrder of the Rising Sun(7 September 1920)
• Grand Cross of theLégion d'honneur(3 July 1924)
• Grand Cordon of theOrder of the Paulownia Flowers(3 June 1927)
• Grand Cordon of theOrder of the Chrysanthemum(26 February 1936; posthumous)
• Senior Second Rank(26 February 1936; posthumous)

Legacy

Series B 50-yen bank note of Japan

Inside Takahashi Korekiyo residence, now at theEdo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum

• Takahashi appeared on a 50Yenbanknoteissued by the Bank of Japan in 1951. It is the only time that a former president of the Bank of Japan has appeared on one of Japan's banknotes.
• Takahashi's Tokyo residence is now the "Takahashi Korekiyo Memorial Park" in Tokyo'sMinato Ward,Akasaka.However, a portion of the building survives in theEdo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural MuseuminKoganeicity, Tokyo.
• Takahashi's fiscal and monetary policies during the Great Depression were in many ways similar to what Keynes later published just a few years later in 1936 inThe General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money.It is thought but not proven that Takahashi's success contributed heavily to Keynes' theories.
• Ben Bernanke,chairman of theUnited States Federal Reserve,characterized Takahashi as a man who "brilliantly rescued Japan from theGreat Depression",and Japanese prime ministerShinzō Abecited Takahashi as an inspiration for hisAbenomicspolicies. On the other hand, Bank of Japan presidentMasaaki Shirakawacharacterized Takahashi's policies of central bank support for the government as a "bitter experience", and in 1982 the Bank of Japan itself characterized Takahashi's Depression-era policies as "the bank's biggest mistake in its 100-year history".

References

• Bix, Herbert P.(2000).Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan.New York:HarperCollins.ISBN978-0-06-019314-0;OCLC247018161
• Jansen, Marius B.(2000).The Making of Modern Japan.Cambridge: Harvard University Press.ISBN9780674003347;OCLC44090600
• Myung Soo Cha, "Did Takahashi Korekiyo Rescue Japan from the Great Depression?,"The Journal of Economic History63, No. 1 (Mar 2003): 127–44.
• Nanto, Dick K. and Shinji Takagi, "Korekiyo Takahashi and Japan's Recovery from the Great Depression,"American Economic Review75, No. 2 (May 1985): 369–74.
• Smethurst, Richard J. (2007).From Foot Soldier to Finance Minister: Takahashi Korekiyo, Japan's Keynes.Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
• __________. (2002). "Takahashi Korekiyo's Fiscal Policy and the Rise of Militarism in Japan During the Great Depression," inTurning Points in Japanese History,ed. Bert Edström. Japan Library.
• Wolferen, Karl van.The Enigma of Japanese Power: People and Politics in a Stateless Nation.Vintage; Reprint edition (1990).ISBN0-679-72802-3
• Tsuboi, KenichiEscape from the Showa Financial Panic and Korekiyo Takahashi's Inflation Policies,Diamond Weekly (2012). (in Japanese).[2]

External links

• Newspaper clippings about Takahashi Korekiyoin the20th Century Press Archivesof theZBW