was a Japanese

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

and politician from

Suita, Osaka is a city located in northern Osaka Prefecture, Japan. As of October 1, 2016, the city has an estimated population of 378,322 and a population density of 9,880 persons per km². The total area is 36.11 km². The city was founded on April 1, ...

Early life and academic career

After graduating from

Tohoku Imperial University , or is a Japanese national university located in Sendai, Miyagi in the Tōhoku Region, Japan. It is informally referred to as . Established in 1907, it was the third Imperial University in Japan and among the first three Designated Natio ...

in 1933, Kuroda was sent to

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China, Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 afte ...

to be an instructor at a service academy. He spent five years in a Siberian labor camp before he returned to Japan in 1950, and became a professor of law at Osaka City University in 1956.

Political career

Kuroda was elected governor of

Osaka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Osaka Prefecture has a population of 8,778,035 () and has a geographic area of . Osaka Prefecture borders Hyōgo Prefecture to the northwest, Kyoto Prefecture ...

in 1971, supported by the Japan Socialist Party and the Japanese Communist Party. In 1975, he became the first governor who won reelection with backing only from the Japanese Communist Party. He unsuccessfully ran for a third term in 1979. While he was in office, Kuroda took positive antipollution measures and introduced free medical care for the elderly. He rejected a plan to build a missile base in Osaka, for he held a view that the Self-Defense Forces were unconstitutional.

Later life

After he left from politics, Kuroda practiced at the bar. He became a member of the

Japan Lawyers Association for Freedom Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in 1981. He died of pneumonia at age 92.

References

* * 20th-century Japanese lawyers Scholars of constitutional law Governors of Osaka People from Suita 1911 births 2003 deaths Deaths from pneumonia in Japan Tohoku University alumni {{Japan-politician-stub