Abe Isoo

Abe Isoo
Member of theHouse of Representatives
In office 1928–1930
Constituency	Tokyo 2nd district
In office 1932–1940
Constituency	Tokyo 2nd district
Personal details
Born	(1865-02-04)4 February 1865 Fukuoka,Japan
Died	10 February 1949(1949-02-10)(aged 84) Tokyo,Japan
Political party	Shakai Minshutō→ Shakai Minshūtō→ Shakai Taishūtō→ Kinrō Kokumintō(banned)→ Independent→ Japanese Socialist Party
Residence	Tokyo
Alma mater	Doshisha University University of Berlin Hartford Theological Seminary
Occupation	preacher

In thisJapanese name,thesurnameisAbe.

Abe Isoo(An bộ cơ hùng,4 February 1865 – 10 February 1949)was a JapaneseChristian socialist,parliamentarian andpacifist.He largely contributed to development ofbaseball in Japan,and was called "Father of Japanese baseball." He created a baseball club ofWaseda University.

Early life and education

Abe was born inFukuokaon 4 February 1865.He entered atDoshisha Universityin 1879, and got baptized byJoseph Hardy Neesimaat February 2, 1882.In 1898, he created the firstConsumers' co-operativeof university in Japan at Doshisha. After he graduated from Doshissha, he studied abroad, including at theUniversity of Berlin,before attendingHartford Theological SeminaryinHartford, Connecticut.It was while he was studying in Hartford that he became interested insocialism.

Career

After returning to Japan, in 1899,Abe became aUnitarianpreacher. He taught at theWaseda Universitystarting in 1901, called Tokyo Semmon Gakko, at the time.He later became a faculty of political science and economics and taught there for 25 years.He occupied some important positions in the university like a dean of first School of Political Science and Economics and University Vice President. In 1901 he helped to found the short-lived Japanese Social-Democratic party, which the government swiftly prohibited.

During theRusso-Japanese War,he advocated non-cooperation and participated in various earlyfeministmovements. When the anti-war newspaperHeimin Shimbun(People's Weekly News) was banned, he started his own magazine,Shinkigen(A New Era).He used this as a soapbox to promote parliamentary socialism.In 1906, he played an instrumental role in founding the first Japanese Socialist Party, from which he advocated aChristian Socialistviewpoint. However, the government outlawed this party too in 1907. He dropped out of public life until afterWorld War I,when he became active again.He founded the JapaneseFabian Society,in 1921,and in 1924, he became their first President. He resigned his teaching post to become the secretary-general of theSocial Democratic Party.In 1928, he was elected to theJapanese Diet,where he held a seat for five consecutive elections.In 1932, he became a chairman ofShakai Taishuto(Social Mass Party).He withdrew from politics in 1940 due to the increasingly militaristic nature of the government of the time.

Father of Baseball in Japan

Abe contributed to the development and spread ofbaseball in Japanbecause he believed that personality was built with sports like knowledge was built with learning.Becoming the first manager of Waseda Baseball Club in 1901, he started theWaseda–Keio rivalry.In 1905, during theRusso-Japanese War,he took the team to the United States and brought many techniques back to Japan, spreading them with his books. He also established the Japan Amateur Sports Association (later, Japan Sport Association) together withJigoro Kano.He later helped with organizing the first Japanese Olympic team competing at the1912 Summer Olympicsin Stockholm.In 1930, Abe became the first chairman of theTokyo Big6 Baseball League.After World War II, he also became the first chairman ofJapan Student Baseball Association.

He is called the 'Father of Baseball in Japan'or the 'Father of Student Baseball'in Japan because of such contributions. Totsuka Ground, the main stadium of Waseda's baseball team changed its name to Abe Ground in 1949, following Abe's death.When theJapanese Baseball Hall of Famewas opened in 1959, he was inducted into the hall.

See also

• Shinkigen