, also known as Seihin Ikeda, was a politician, cabinet minister and businessman in the
Empire of Japan
The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent fo ...
, prominent in the early decades of the 20th century. He served as director of
Mitsui Bank from 1909-1933, was appointed governor of the
Bank of Japan
The is the central bank of Japan.Louis Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric. (2005). "Nihon Ginkō" in The bank is often called for short. It has its headquarters in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo.
History
Like most modern Japanese instituti ...
in 1937, and served as
Minister of Finance
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...
under
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Fumimaro Konoe
Prince was a Japanese politician and prime minister. During his tenure, he presided over the Japanese invasion of China in 1937 and the breakdown in relations with the United States, which ultimately culminated in Japan's entry into World W ...
from 1937 to 1939. In 1941, he was made a member of the
Imperial Privy Council
The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of ei ...
; following Japan's defeat in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Ikeda was
banned
A ban is a formal or informal prohibition of something. Bans are formed for the prohibition of activities within a certain political territory. Some bans in commerce are referred to as embargoes. ''Ban'' is also used as a verb similar in meaning ...
from public political service.
[Frédéric, Louis. "Ikeda Seihin". ''Japan Encyclopedia''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2002.]
Background
Ikeda was born in 1867, the final year of the
Bakumatsu period
was the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the modern empire of the Meiji govern ...
in
Yonezawa Domain (modern
Yamagata Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Yamagata Prefecture has a population of 1,079,950 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 9,325 km² (3,600 sq mi). Yamagata Prefecture borders Akita Prefecture to the north, ...
), as the eldest son of noted
samurai
were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...
Ikeda Nariaki Ikeda may refer to:
* Ikeda (surname), a Japanese surname
* Ikeda (comics), a character in ''Usagi Yojimbo''
* Ikeda clan, a Japanese clan
* Ikeda map, chaotic attractor
* ''Ikeda'' (annelid) a genus of the family Ikedidae
Places
* Ikeda, Osaka i ...
. He moved to Tokyo at age 13. His initial efforts to enroll in either
Keio University
, mottoeng = The pen is mightier than the sword
, type = Private research coeducational higher education institution
, established = 1858
, founder = Yukichi Fukuzawa
, endowmen ...
or
Tokyo Imperial University failed due to his lack of
English language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...
skills; however after 18 months of private tutoring he was able to secure admission into the newly formed Department of Economics at Keio University in 1890. At the recommendation of Harvard professor Arthur Knapp, who was stationed at Keio University, Ikeda was sent to study at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in the United States from 1890-1895. After graduation, he returned to Japan and obtained a job at the Jiji Shimpo newspaper, but quit after only three weeks.
In December 1895, at the recommendation of director
Nakamigawa Hirojirō, Ikeda began working at Mitsui Bank. After being assigned to the Osaka branch, he was made director of the bank's Ashikaga branch, following which he worked on reform proposals for the underwriting of municipal bonds for Osaka, and for deposit agreements between banks. He was then sent back to the United States in 1898 to study banking modernization. After his return in 1900, he rose rapidly through the hierarchy within the
Mitsui zaibatsu
is one of the largest ''keiretsu'' in Japan and one of the largest corporate groups in the world.
The major companies of the group include Mitsui & Co. ( general trading company), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Nippon Paper Industries ...
. In 1904, he married the eldest daughter of managing director Nakamigawa Hirojirō. He helped establish Mitsui Bank as a stock company in 1911, of which he became a director and was appointed managing director in 1919.
After the
Showa Financial Crisis of 1927, Ikeda came under criticism when it was discovered that his precipitous withdrawal of funds from the overextended
Bank of Taiwan in order to protect Mitsui assets was one of the primary causes for the collapse of the Bank of Taiwan, the second-tier
zaibatsu Suzuki Shoten, and the subsequent financial panic.
Ikeda became de facto head of the Mitsui zaibatsu in 1932. He was able to depose the Mitsui family from the senior management of the zaibatsu and from the leadership of key group companies, which he took public by offering stock on the
Tokyo Stock Exchange
The , abbreviated as Tosho () or TSE/TYO, is a stock exchange located in Tokyo, Japan. It is the third largest stock exchange in the world by aggregate market capitalization of its listed companies, and the largest in Asia. It had 2,292 listed co ...
. He was also influential in donations to numerous charity and social projects. Ikeda also implemented a retirement system within Mitsui set at the age of 70, at which point he also retired.
Public career
On his retirement from Mitsui in 1937,Ikeda accepted the position of president of the
Bank of Japan
The is the central bank of Japan.Louis Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric. (2005). "Nihon Ginkō" in The bank is often called for short. It has its headquarters in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo.
History
Like most modern Japanese instituti ...
. The same year, he was asked to become a Cabinet councilor by
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Fumimaro Konoe
Prince was a Japanese politician and prime minister. During his tenure, he presided over the Japanese invasion of China in 1937 and the breakdown in relations with the United States, which ultimately culminated in Japan's entry into World W ...
. He was also an advisor to the Ministry of Finance, the North China Development Company and Central China Promotion Company. From 1938-1939, he became both
Minister of Finance
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...
and
Minister of Commerce and Industry.
On 5 December 1938, along with the Prime Minister,
Foreign Minister
A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...
Hachirō Arita,
Army Minister Seishirō Itagaki, and
Navy Minister Mitsumasa Yonai, Ikeda took part in the
Five Ministers' Conference, a secret meeting of the highest officials in the Japanese government, to discuss the government's position on world
Jewry
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
. While the Foreign Minister and others were opposed to any formal involvement with the Jewish people, on the basis of their uncontrollable nature and devious schemes as detailed in the ''
Protocols of the Elders of Zion
''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' () or ''The Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion'' is a fabricated antisemitic text purporting to describe a Jewish plan for global domination. The hoax was plagiarized from several ...
'' and the threat they posed according to
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
ideology, Ikeda, along with Army Minister Itagaki, argued that a population of Jews would be a great asset to Japan, attracting foreign capital and improving world opinion towards Japan. The meeting ultimately proved a crucial step in the development of the "
Fugu Plan" which would bring several thousand Jews to the Empire of Japan, from Nazi-controlled Europe.
[Tokayer, Marvin and Mary Swartz. ''The Fugu Plan: The Untold Story of the Japanese and the Jews During World War Two''. New York: Weatherhill, Inc., 1979. pp56-61.]
Ikeda's name was floated as a possible successor to Konoe as Prime Minister; however, this was strongly opposed by the
Imperial Japanese Army
The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...
, with whom Ikeda had repeatedly clashed over matters of finance. However, he was retained as a Cabinet councilor under Prime Minister
Hiranuma Kiichirō
was a prominent right-wing Japanese politician and Prime Minister of Japan in 1939. He was convicted of war crimes committed during World War II and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Early life
Hiranuma was born in what is now Tsuyama Ci ...
, and was also President of the Price Control Board.
Ikeda became a member of the
Privy Council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...
in 1941, and was banned from engaging in political activity as a result, following the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
[
]
Post-war period
In December 1945, following the surrender of Japan
The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ...
, Ikeda was arrested on the orders of the US occupation authorities as a suspect on charges of Class A war crimes. He was released without any charges filed in May 1946; however, as with all members of the wartime Japanese government, he was barred from holding any public office. He withdrew to his summer home in Oiso, Kanagawa, but cooperated with the American occupation officials in the dissolution of the zaibatsu, which earned him the enmity of many former colleagues within the Mitsui group. His close neighbor, Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida also consulted with Ikeda frequently on matters of finance and personnel. Ikeda died at his home in Oiso in 1950, due to complications arising from intestinal ulcers.
References
*Metzler, Mark. ''Lever of Empire: The International Gold Standard and the Crisis of Liberalism in Prewar Japan''. University of California Press (2006)
Notes
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ikeda, Shigeaki
1867 births
1950 deaths
Ministers of Finance of Japan
Government ministers of Japan
Mitsui
Japanese businesspeople
People from Yamagata Prefecture
Keio University alumni
Harvard University alumni