was a Japanese social statistician and

labor activist A union organizer (or union organiser in Commonwealth spelling) is a specific type of trade union member (often elected) or an appointed union official. In some unions, the organizer's role is to recruit groups of workers under the organizing ...

Early life and education

Takano was the younger brother of Takano Fusataro. He was born on October 15, 1871, in

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

, Japan. He attended what is now the

Kaisei Academy Kaisei Academy (, ) is a Private school, private secondary school for boys located in Arakawa, Tokyo. Overview Kaisei Academy admits approximately 300 students to its junior high school and 400 to its high school each year. The school's motto ...

, the

First Higher School The First Higher School (第一高等学校, Daiichi ''Kōtō Gakkō'') was a university preparatory boy's boarding school in Tokyo, Japan. It is the direct predecessor of the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Tokyo. Overview ...

, and the Tokyo Imperial University (now called the

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 ...

). Takano's university education was partially funded by Fusataro's work in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. He studied at

Munich University The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

from 1899 to 1903, where he met his wife, Barbara. They had a daughter in 1902. After returning to Japan, he earned a

Doctor of Law A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

in 1904.

Career

Takano began teaching at the Tokyo Imperial University in 1903. Some of his notable students include Morito Tatsuo,

Ōuchi Hyōei was a Japanese economist. Early life and education Ōuchi was born on August 29, 1888, in what is now Minaminawaji, Hyogo, Japan. After graduating from schools in Hyogo and Kumamoto, and earned a degree from Tokyo Imperial University. Caree ...

, and . Takano was also one of the founding members of the , a research organization. Of the Shakai Seisaku Gakkai members, Takano was one of the first to discuss

trade unions A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

. While no unions existed in Japan yet, he was very pro-union, a sentiment shared by Fusataro. In 1910, Takano and other members of the University's economics department lobbied for the economics department to become independent, rather than sharing a college with those studying law or government. Not only was Takano's goal to ground the curriculum in empirical research, but he also hoped that being independent would lead to more political activism within the department. However, the creation of the new department was very slow because of funding concerns. Takano threatened to quit in May 1917, but stayed after the university said they would hurry things up. The new department was established in 1919. Even though the department had been established, Takano left the university in 1920 to head the . After World War II, he helped to form the

Japan Socialist Party The was a major socialist and progressive political party in Japan which existed from 1945 to 1996. The party was the primary representative of the Japanese left and main opponent of the right-wing Liberal Democratic Party for most of its ex ...

and was part of the Constitution Investigation Association. He then became the head of the

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

in 1946. He was the head of the

Japan Statistical Society The Japan Statistical Society (Nihon Tokei Gakkai) ...

in 1948. Takano died on April 5, 1949.

References

1871 births 1949 deaths People from Nagasaki {{DEFAULTSORT:Takano, Iwasaburo Japanese economists Japanese activists Kaisei Academy alumni University of Tokyo alumni Academic staff of the University of Tokyo Activists from Nagasaki