was a Japanese bureaucrat and politician who served as the governor of Tottori and as a member of the

House of Councillors The is the upper house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives is the lower house. The House of Councillors is the successor to the pre-war House of Peers (Japan), House of Peers. If the t ...

. He also held other high-ranking positions, including

Minister of Home Affairs An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

and Vice Minister of Construction. His son

Shigeru Ishiba Shigeru Ishiba (born 4 February 1957) is a Japanese politician who has served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 2024. He has been a member of ...

is the current

Prime Minister of Japan The is the head of government of Japan. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Japan and has the ability to select and dismiss its ministers of state. The prime minister also serves as the commander-in-chief of the Japan Self-Defense Force ...

Early life and career

Ishiba was born on 29 July 1908. His father, Ichizo Ishiba, was a farmer who became the village chief in the year Jirō was born. He studied

English law English law is the common law list of national legal systems, legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly English criminal law, criminal law and Civil law (common law), civil law, each branch having its own Courts of England and Wales, ...

at the

Faculty of Law A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In North America, academic divisions are sometimes titled colleges, sc ...

University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

, and graduated in 1932. He began his career as a bureaucrat at the

Home Ministry An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a Ministry (government department), government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law e ...

but later transferred to the Metropolitan Police Department. He returned to the ministry in 1938, and during the

Second World War 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 ...

, he was posted to

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, which had been occupied by the Japanese at an early stage of the war. After the war, he resumed his career at the Ministry of Construction, which had been spun off from the Home Ministry. He became Vice Minister, the highest office a bureaucrat can hold in a ministry, in 1955. In 1958, he stood for the Tottori governorship election and was successfully elected. After serving for 16 years, he resigned in 1974 and was elected as a member of the House of Councillors. In July 1980, he was appointed Minister for Home Affairs in the

Zenkō Suzuki Cabinet The Zenkō Suzuki Cabinet is the 70th Cabinet of Japan headed by Zenkō Suzuki from July 17, 1980, to November 27, 1982. Cabinet Reshuffled Cabinet A Cabinet reshuffle took place on November 30, 1981. References

{{Cabinets of J ...

but had to step down when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in December of the same year. His funeral in Tokyo was organised by former prime minister

Kakuei Tanaka was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan, prime minister of Japan from 1972 to 1974. Known for his background in construction and earthy and tenacious political style, Tanaka is the only modern Japanese prime minister who ...

, after which he instructed Ishiba's son and future prime minister, Shigeru, to stand for the general election.

References

{{Reflist 1908 births 1981 deaths 20th-century Japanese politicians Governors of Tottori Prefecture Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) politicians University of Tokyo alumni Shigeru Ishiba