Gōtarō Ogawa
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was an economist, educator, politician and cabinet minister in the pre-war
Empire of Japan The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...
.


Background

Ogawa was born in Satoshō, Okayama as the son of Murayama Kikuzo, but was adopted into a prominent family of doctors in
Okayama is the prefectural capital, capital Cities of Japan, city of Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan. The Okayama metropolitan area, centered around the city, has the largest urban employment zone in the Chugoku region of western J ...
. He graduated from
Tokyo Imperial University The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public university, public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several Edo peri ...
Imperial College of Law in 1903 with honors, from the Department of Political Science, and obtained a post at the
Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfoli ...
. However, the following year, he was recruited by
Kyoto Imperial University , or , is a national research university in Kyoto, Japan. Founded in 1897, it is one of the former Imperial Universities and the second oldest university in Japan. The university has ten undergraduate faculties, eighteen graduate schools, and t ...
, which had just established a Department of Economics, and was sent to Europe for six years to study
public finance Public finance refers to the monetary resources available to governments and also to the study of finance within government and role of the government in the economy. Within academic settings, public finance is a widely studied subject in man ...
in Germany and Austria. On his return, he worked at Kyoto Imperial University as a professor of economics, specializing on the economic effects of war. In 1917, he was awarded a doctorate in law. Ogawa then entered politics, winning a seat in the
House of Representatives of Japan The is the lower house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Councillors is the upper house. The composition of the House is established by and of the Constitution of Japan. The House of Representatives has 465 members, elected for a fo ...
in the 1917 general election, and was subsequently re-elected to the same seat in the Okayama constituency a total of eight times. Initially with the '' Shinseikai,'' he later assisted in the formation of the ''
Seiyu Hontō Voice acting in Japan is an industry where actors provide voice-overs as characters or narrators in media including anime, video games, audio dramas, commercials, and dubbing for non-Japanese films and television programs. In Japan, and ac ...
'' political party, subsequently serving as president of its policy research committee, and joined the ''
Rikken Minseitō was one of the main political parties in pre-war Empire of Japan. It was commonly known as the ''Minseitō''. History The ''Minseitō'' was founded on 1 June 1927, by a merger of the '' Kenseikai'' and the ''Seiyu Hontō'' political parties. ...
'' when the ''Seiyu Hontō'' merged with 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 ''Kōy ...
''. Ogawa left Kyoto Imperial University in 1924 to accept the post of dean of
Takushoku University Takushoku University (拓殖 大学; ''Takushoku Daigaku'', abbreviated as 拓大 ''Takudai'') is a private university in Tokyo, Japan. It was founded in 1900 by Prince (title for a Duke at that time) Taro Katsura (1848–1913).Hamaguchi administration. In 1936,
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Kōki Hirota was a Japanese diplomat and politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1936 to 1937. Originally his name was . He was executed for war crimes committed during the Second Sino-Japanese War at the Tokyo Trials. Early life Hirota was ...
asked that Ogawa accept the post of Minister of Commerce and Industry. In this position, he opposed many of the ministry bureaucrats who were pushing towards increased state control over the economy, and forced a number, including
Nobusuke Kishi was a Japanese bureaucrat and politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan, prime minister of Japan from 1957 to 1960. He is remembered for his exploitative economic management of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo in China in the 1930s, ...
, to resign.Iguchi, ''Unfinished Business''. Page 28-30 In 1940 he served in the second Konoe administration as Railway Minister. After the start of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, in 1943, he took charge of the committee of internal affairs of the ''
Taisei Yokusankai The , or Imperial Aid Association, was the Empire of Japan's ruling political organization during much of the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. It was created by Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe on 12 October 1940, to promote the goals ...
.'' However, later in 1943, he was invited to the nominally independent
State of Burma The State of Burma (; , ''Biruma-koku'') was a Japanese puppet state established in 1943 during the Japanese occupation of Burma in World War II. Background During the early stages of World War II, the Empire of Japan invaded British Burma ...
by President
Ba Maw Ba Maw (, ; 8 February 1893 – 29 May 1977), known honorifically as Dr. Ba Maw, was a Burmese lawyer and politician, active during the interwar period and Second World War. He was the first Burma Premier (1937–1939) and head of State of Bu ...
as a special advisor on economics and finance. He spent the remainder of the war years in Burma, attempting to set the country on a secure footing through financial consolidation. On April 1, 1945, while attempting to return to Japan, Ogawa was killed as a passenger on the ''Awa Maru'', which was sunk by the US submarine in the
East China Sea The East China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. China names the body of water along its eastern coast as "East Sea" (, ) due to direction, the name of "East China Sea" is otherwise ...
despite its status as a
hospital ship A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating healthcare, medical treatment facility or hospital. Most are operated by the military forces (mostly navy, navies) of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or ...
under Red Cross protection. In 1968, he was posthumously awarded with the
Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese honors system, Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge feat ...
, 3rd class.


References

* Dingman, Roger. (1997)
''Ghost of War: The Sinking of the Awa Maru and Japanese-American Relations, 1945-1995.''
Annapolis: Naval Institute Press.
OCLC 37315278
*Iguchi, Haruo. ''Unfinished Business: Ayukawa Yoshisuke and U.S.-Japan Relations, 1937-1953''. Harvard University Asia Center (2003)


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ogawa, Gotaro 1876 births 1945 deaths Politicians from Okayama Prefecture Government ministers of Japan Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) University of Tokyo alumni Kyoto University alumni Academic staff of Kyoto University Japanese civilians killed in World War II Deaths due to shipwreck at sea Imperial Rule Assistance Association politicians Constitutional Democratic Party (Japan) politicians