was a Japanese railroad engineer.

Biography

Hirai was born in

Kanazawa is the capital city of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 466,029 in 203,271 households, and a population density of 990 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Overview Cityscape File:もてな ...

, Japan. He was chosen by Japan to be one of the first to study abroad and he attended

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

where he was a member of the

Delta Kappa Epsilon Delta Kappa Epsilon (), commonly known as ''DKE'' or ''Deke'', is one of the oldest fraternities in the United States, with fifty-six active chapters and five active colonies across North America. It was founded at Yale College in 1844 by fifteen ...

fraternity. He received his

M.S. A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

in civil engineering in 1878. He worked for the U.S. government before becoming a railway engineer in the Colonization Bureau for

Hokkaidō is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

in 1881. In 1882 he was appointed chief of the railway for the Mining and Railway Bureau for

. He later became the chief engineer of the Osaka Railway Company. He eventually joined the government of Japan, where he was advanced to the position of president of the

Imperial Government Railways The Japanese Government Railways (JGR) was the national railway system directly operated by the Japanese Ministry of Railways ( ja, 鉄道省, Tetsudō-shō, ) until 1949. It was a predecessor of Japanese National Railways and the later Japan Rai ...

in 1904. When the railway became presided by a cabinet minister (

Gotō Shinpei Count was a Medical Doctor with Doctor of Medicine, a Japanese politician and cabinet minister of the Taishō and early Shōwa period Empire of Japan. He served as the head of civilian affairs of Taiwan under Japanese rule, the first direc ...

being the first minister) in 1908, he was appointed the vice president. On December 23, 1908, he became a member of the House of Peers as nominated by

Emperor Meiji , also called or , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. Reigning from 13 February 1867 to his death, he was the first monarch of the Empire of Japan and presided over the Meiji era. He was the figur ...

. He was in the office until his death. In 1913 he was dispatched to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and served as an adviser to the Chinese government until he returned to Japan in 1925. There is a dormitory named after him at Rensselaer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hirai, Seijiro Japanese civil engineers Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni 1856 births 1926 deaths