Tomita Tetsunosuke
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was a
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
businessman, 2nd Governor of the Bank of Japan (BOJ), and Governor of Tokyo.Singer, Isidore. (1910).


Biography

Tomita was born in
Sendai Domain The , also known as the , was a domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871. The Sendai Domain was based at Aoba Castle in Mutsu Province, in the modern city of Sendai, located in the Tōhoku region of the i ...
(modern Miyagi Prefecture), as the fourth son of a
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 ...
retainer to the
Date clan The is a Japanese samurai kin group. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)"Date", ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 5 retrieved 2013-5-5. History The Date family was founded ...
. In 1856, he was sent by the domain to Edo, to study western
artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...
science, and soon after his return, was sent back to Edo again to study naval science under
Katsu Kaishū Count , best known by his nickname , was a Japanese statesman and naval engineer during the late Tokugawa shogunate and early Meiji period. Kaishū was a nickname which he took from a piece of calligraphy (Kaishū Shooku ) by Sakuma Shōzan. He ...
. In 1867, he was chosen to accompany Katsu Kaishū’s son to the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
for studies. He studied
economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...
at the Whitney Business College in
Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Mori Arinori Viscount was a Meiji period Japanese statesman, diplomat, and founder of Japan's modern educational system. Early life Mori was born in the Satsuma domain (modern Kagoshima prefecture) from a ''samurai'' family, and educated in the ''Kaisenjo' ...
as a foreign advisor to teach the
Double-entry bookkeeping system Double-entry bookkeeping, also known as double-entry accounting, is a method of bookkeeping that relies on a two-sided accounting entry to maintain financial information. Every entry to an account requires a corresponding and opposite entry to ...
in Japan). With the Boshin War, and the overthrow of the
Tokugawa Shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...
, Tomita returned briefly to Japan, but was urged back to the United States by Katsu Kaishū. His position was recognized by the new
Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji o ...
was thus able to help organize the visit of the
Iwakura Mission The Iwakura Mission or Iwakura Embassy (, ''Iwakura Shisetsudan'') was a Japanese diplomatic voyage to the United States and Europe conducted between 1871 and 1873 by leading statesmen and scholars of the Meiji period. It was not the only such m ...
to the United States in 1872.
Ito Hirobumi Ito may refer to: Places * Ito Island, an island of Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea * Ito Airport, an airport in the Democratic Republic of the Congo * Ito District, Wakayama, a district located in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan * Itō, Shiz ...
and
Okubo Toshimichi , also Okubo, Ohkubo and Ookubo, is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Ōkubo clan **Ōkubo Tadayo (1532–1594), Japanese daimyō of the Sengoku period **Ōkubo Tadasuke (1537–1613), Japanese daimyō of the Sengoku an ...
confirmed his position as the first Japanese Vice-Consul to New York during the course of the Iwakura Mission. He finally returned to Japan in 1874, and soon became a member of the ''
Meirokusha The was an intellectual society in Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being ...
.'' Through the introduction of
Fukuzawa Yukichi was a Japanese educator, philosopher, writer, entrepreneur and samurai who founded Keio University, the newspaper '' Jiji-Shinpō'', and the Institute for Study of Infectious Diseases. Fukuzawa was an early advocate for reform in Japan. Hi ...
, he married the daughter of Sugiyama Gen, and drew up the first recorded formal
marriage contract ''Marriage Contract'' () is a 2016 South Korean television series starring Lee Seo-jin and Uee. It aired on MBC from March 5 to April 24, 2016 on Saturdays and Sundays at 22:00 for 16 episodes. Plot Kang Hye-soo (Uee) is a single mother who ...
in Japan. Afterwards, he was appointed Japanese consul-general to
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...
. Subsequently, Tomita served as Secretary to the Japanese legation in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. On Tomita’s return to Japan in 1881, he was recruited by the Ministry of Finance for his wide-ranging knowledge of world economics, and was appointed the first Vice-Governor of the new Bank of Japan in 1882. After the sudden death of Yoshihara Shigetoshi, the 1st Governor of the Bank of Japan in 1887, Tomita was promoted on February 21, 1888 to take his position. During his tenure, he attempted to establish a central discount rate and stabilize
foreign exchange The foreign exchange market (Forex, FX, or currency market) is a global decentralized or over-the-counter (OTC) market for the trading of currencies. This market determines foreign exchange rates for every currency. It includes all as ...
, which he saw as core roles of a
central bank A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the currency and monetary policy of a country or monetary union, and oversees their commercial banking system. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central b ...
. However, in these actions he was opposed by the
Yokohama Specie Bank was a Japanese bank founded in Yokohama, Japan in the year 1880. Its assets were transferred to The Bank of Tokyo (now MUFG Bank) in 1946. The bank played a significant role in Japanese overseas trade, especially with China. The original b ...
and by Finance Minister
Matsukata Masayoshi Prince was a Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1891 to 1892 and 1896 to 1898. Early life Matsukata Masayoshi was born on 25 February 1835, in Arata, Kagoshima, Satsuma Province (present-day Shimoarata, Kagoshima, Kagosh ...
. Resisting orders by Matsukata to change BOJ policies, he was relieved of his position on September 3, 1889 after 19 months as head of the bank.BOJ
List of Governors
The following year, Tomita was appointed to a seat in the House of Peers of the Diet of Japan, and from July 21, 1891 to October 26, 1893 was Governor of Tokyo. During his tenure, the three Tama Districts were transferred from
Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kanag ...
to Tokyo, thus greatly expanding its hinterland.1891年7月21日 - 1893年10月26日 In 1893, he retired from politics and entered the business world, founding the Kangyo Bank (one of the predecessors of modern
Mizuho Corporate Bank , or MHCB, was the corporate and investment banking subsidiary of Mizuho Financial Group, the second-biggest Japanese financial services conglomerate, prior to the reintegration of investment banking services under the Mizuho Bank name in Jul ...
), the Yokohama Fire Insurance Company, later known as Yokohama Fire, Marine, Transit & Fidelity Insurance, and Fujibo Holdings. He was also a director on the board of the
Nippon Railway was the first private railway company in the history of Japan. The company built trunk lines connecting Tokyo with the Tōhoku region to the northeast. Most of its lines came under the control of Japanese Government Railways following nationaliza ...
. Tomita also founded the Kyoritsu Women's University.


Notes


References

* Hardacre, Helen. ''New directions in the study of Meiji Japan''. Brill. * Reischauer, Haru Matsukata. ''Samurai and Silk: Japanese and American Heritage'' (1986) Harvard University Press * Singer, Isidore. (1910). ''International Insurance Encyclopedia.'' New York: American Encyclopedic Library Assoc
OCLC 9233410
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tomita, Tetsunosuke 1835 births 1916 deaths Governors of the Bank of Japan Governors of Tokyo Japanese bankers Japanese diplomats Japanese expatriates in the United States Members of the House of Peers (Japan) People from Miyagi Prefecture Politicians from Tokyo Consuls General of Japan in Shanghai