was a member of the Japanese

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

. He was a member of the Rikken Seiyūkai, the Chūseikai, and the

Kenseikai The was a short-lived political party in the pre-war Empire of Japan. History The ''Kenseikai'' was founded on 10 October 1916, as a merger of the '' Rikken Dōshikai'' (led by Katō Takaaki), '' Chūseikai'' (led by Ozaki Yukio) and the '' ...

Early life

Okabe was born in Kasuga-mura, Shinano Province (present-day

Saku, Nagano is a city located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 99,131 in 41,522 households, and a population density of 230 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Saku is located in east-central ...

) on September 30, 1864. He was the second son of Yamon Okabe.『信濃人物略誌』p.53-54 After attending Ueda Middle School (now called Ueda High School), Okabe studied English at Dōjinsha in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

.『現代日本の政治家』p.22-23 In 1885 he followed

Korekiyo Takahashi Viscount was a Japanese politician who served as a member of the House of Peers, as Prime Minister of Japan from 1921 to 1922, and as the head of the Bank of Japan and Ministry of Finance. Takahashi made many contributions to Japan's developm ...

to America. While living in Oakland in 1889, he converted to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

. He then moved to the Kingdom of Hawaii with

Harvey Saburo Hayashi Harvey Saburo Hayashi (February 22, 1867 – June 1, 1943) was a Japanese doctor who practiced in Kona, Hawaii. He started a local newspaper, the ''Kona Echo.'' Early life and education Hayashi was born in Fukushima, Japan in 1867 to a samurai f ...

in the same year.

Hawaii

In Hawaii, Okabe was ordained on July 20, 1890, and started the first Japanese church in Hilo, the Church of the Holy Cross, on January 18, 1891. He was transferred to Honolulu in 1893. Shortly after transferring to Honolulu, he returned to Japan to recruit more Japanese missionaries, including Takie Okumura and

Shiro Sokabe Shiro Sokabe (June 26, 1865 – July 3, 1949) was a Christian missionary from Japan who ministered in Honomu, Hawaii. He was known as the "Samurai Missionary" Early life Sokabe was born in Fukuoka, Japan on June 26, 1865. He was the oldest so ...

. He also inherited the "Hawai Shinbun", a Japanese-language newspaper, from Jukichi Uchida in 1894, but quickly transferred it to Kenichiro Hoshida. During the

overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii The overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom was a ''coup d'état'' against Queen Liliʻuokalani, which took place on January 17, 1893, on the island of Oahu and led by the Committee of Safety, composed of seven foreign residents and six non-abori ...

, Okabe was on the side of the anti-monarchists. He joined the Citizens' Guard and worked to quell riots, fearing that the bad reputation of

Japanese immigrants The Japanese diaspora and its individual members, known as Nikkei (日系) or as Nikkeijin (日系人), comprise the Japanese emigrants from Japan (and their descendants) residing in a country outside Japan. Emigration from Japan was recorded a ...

at the time would grow worse if they rioted. Once the riots were calmed, the royalists within the Japanese community didn't trust Okabe, and he left Hawaii in 1895. After his time in Hawaii, he returned to the American mainland and attended the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...

. After graduation, he earned a doctorate at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

. He also studied abroad at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...

Heidelberg University } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, B ...

, and the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

Japan

In 1899 Okabe returned to Japan and worked as a translator for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After that he helped Hirobumi Ito and Kunitake Watanabe form the Rikken Seiyūkai.『新代議士名鑑』p.199 He also became the head writer of the Hokkai Times. When the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

started Okabe worked as the director of foreign correspondents. After the war Okabe became the head of Yingkou's military government's diplomacy, resident affairs, and administrative divisions in quick succession.『代議士詳覧』p.327 Okabe was elected to office during the Japanese General Election, 1912. He was re-elected four times. He died on July 8, 1925. On the previous day he had been awarded the title Jushi-i.『官報』第3863号「叙任及辞令」1925年7月9日。

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Okabe, Jiro 1925 deaths 1864 births Politicians from Nagano Prefecture People of the Russo-Japanese War Japanese newspaper editors Japanese journalists Japanese businesspeople Members of the House of Representatives (Empire of Japan)