Tokonami Takejirō

Takejirō Tokonami (床次 竹二郎, Tokonami Takejirō, 6 January 1866 – 8 September 1935) was a Japanese statesman, politician and cabinet minister in Taishō and early Shōwa period Japan.^[1][2] Tokonami was involved in several government agencies throughout his career, and served in the leadership of different political parties. He was regarded by his contemporaries as a rather opportunistic politician eager for an opportunity to become prime minister.^[3]

Tokonami Takejirō
Tokonami Takejirō
36th Minister of Communications
In office June 8, 1934 – September 8, 1935
Prime Minister	Keisuke Okada
Preceded by	Minami Hiroshi
Succeeded by	Okada Keisuke
10th Railway Minister
In office December 13, 1931 – May 26, 1932
Prime Minister	Tsuyoshi Inukai
Preceded by	Hara Osamu
14th Home Minister
In office September 29, 1918 – June 1922
Prime Minister	Hara Takashi; Takahashi Korekiyo[exp 1]
Preceded by	Mizuno Rentarō
Succeeded by	Mizuno Rentarō
3rd Director of the Karafuto Agency
In office April 24, 1908 – June 12, 1908
Preceded by	Kusunose Yukihiko
Succeeded by	Hiraoka Teitarō
16th Governor of Akita Prefecture
In office 1905–1906
Preceded by	Okada Kishichōrō
Succeeded by	Seino Chōtarō
19th Governor of Tokushima Prefecture
In office 1904–1905
Preceded by	Kamei Eizaburō
Succeeded by	Iwao Saburō
Personal details
Born	January 6, 1866 Kagoshima, Satsuma Domain, Japan
Died	August 9, 1935(1935-08-09) (aged 69) Tokyo, Japan
Resting place	Tama Rein Cemetery in Fuchū, Tokyo
Nationality	Japan
Political party	Rikken Seiyūkai (1913-1924) Shinsei Club (1924) Seiyūhontō (1924-1927) Shintō Club (1927) Rikken Minseitō (1927-1928) Shintō Club (1928-1929) Rikken Seiyūkai (1929-1934) Daiichi Hikaeshitsu (1934-c.1935) Mushozoku Shitsu (1935)
Occupation	Politician

In this Japanese name, the surname is Tokonami.

Early life

Tokonami was born January 1866 in Kagoshima, where his father was a samurai in the service of the Shimazu clan of Satsuma Domain. After the Meiji Restoration, his father moved to Tokyo and served as a judge within the Ministry of Justice, and also was a self-taught oil painter, noted for a portrait painting of Itō Hirobumi, among other works. Takejirō, his eldest son, graduated from the law school at the Tokyo Imperial University.^[4] One of his classmates was future president of the Privy Council Hara Yoshimichi.

Bureaucratic career

On graduation, Tokonami entered the Ministry of Finance, and later the Home Ministry. He served as Vice-Governor of Miyagi Prefecture, Chief of Police of Okayama Prefecture, and Chief Secretary of Tokyo Prefecture before being assigned the post of Governor of Tokushima Prefecture from 1904 to 1905, followed by Akita Prefecture from 1905 to 1906.

Appointed vice-minister of the Home Ministry in 1906,^[4] he assisted Home Minister Hara Takashi in his efforts to abolish the rural district as an administrative unit over the opposition of the House of Peers. Tokonami was appointed Director of the Karafuto Agency, governing the Karafuto Prefecture from 24 April 1908 to 12 June 1908.

Returning to the Home Ministry, he rose to the post of Vice-Minister for Local Affairs in 1912. While vice-minister, Tokonami arranged a conference between Japanese Shintoist, Buddhist and Christian leaders in February 1912^[5] to coordinate efforts towards social work projects and to counter political radicalism. He also worked towards government intervention in sponsoring negotiations towards rapid resolution of labor disputes through a combination of threats and negotiations supporting labor union activity on one hand, while simultaneously using police powers to control or limit strikes.^[6] Tokonami subsequently served as President of the Japanese Government Railways in 1913.

Political career

Tokonami officially joined the Rikken Seiyūkai political party in 1913, although he had been active in party affairs prior to this time. He was elected to the House of Representatives of Japan from the Kagoshima No.1 electoral district in the Japanese General Election, 1915, and subsequently held the same seat through eight elections until his death in 1935.^[7]

Tokonami became Home Minister in the Hara administration from 1918, while concurrently retaining the post of Railway Minister^[8] He supported the Kyōchōkai, which took a Neo-Confucianist and reformist-conservative view towards social reform.^[9] His response to the Rice Riots of 1918 was to issue directives to all prefectural governors to encourage thrift and frugality among the general public, blaming the riots on the public's infatuation with luxury.^[10]

During this time, he also presided over electoral district reforms. After Hara's assassination in 1921, Tokonami continued in the same post under the Takahashi administration. However, in 1924, when Kiyoura Keigo became Prime Minister, Takahashi and many other Seiyūkai members rebelled against his non-party cabinet. Tokonami and Yamamoto Tatsuo organized the Seiyu Hontō party supporting Kiyoura.^[11] Tokonami continued to serve in a leadership role when the Seiyu Hontō and Kenseikai merged to form the Rikken Minseitō in 1927. However, in August 1928, he formed the Shintō Kurabu, with some 30 former Minseitō members, which cooperated with the Seiyūkai on a variety of issues, including the strengthening of the Peace Preservation Laws. He also cooperated with the Seiyūkai on a gerrymandering scheme to replace the existing large electoral districts with single-seat districts in rural areas (a Seiyūkai stronghold) and smaller two-three seat urban districts. The plan was derided by the Minseitō as “Tokomandering”.^[12]

Tokonami was accused of taking a bribe of 500,000 yuan from Warlord of Manchuria Zhang Xueliang in 1928.^[13]

Tokonami re-joined the Rikken Seiyūkai party in July 1929.^[14] He was selected to become Railway Minister under the Inukai administration in December 1931. After Inukai's assassination in the May 15 Incident, he unsuccessfully campaigned for head of the party, but was persuaded by party elders to drop out and allow Suzuki Kisaburō to remain party head.^[15] Tokonami returned to the cabinet as Communications Minister in the Okada administration in July 1934, over considerable internal opposition within the party, as Tokonami belonged to a group of politicians had had previously opposed him.^[16] Tokonami suffered from a heart attack while in office, and died on 8 September 1935 at his home in Tokyo. His grave is at the Tama Cemetery in Fuchū, Tokyo. He was posthumously awarded the Order of the Paulownia Flowers.

Bibliography

• Impressions of Europe and America.^[5]

Explanatory notes

1. Tokonami was appointed to two consecutive terms by two different prime ministers.

Notes

1. Nakayama, Gotō, and Yoshioka (2006), 381.
2. Byas (2005), 59.
3. Garon=Garon, page 51
4. Masaoka (2009), 133.
5. Hagin (1914), 294.
6. Garon, page 51
7. New York Times (2004), 138.
8. Duus (1999), 113.
9. Streeck and Yamamura (2005), 66.
10. Minichiello page 320
11. Garon. Page 121
12. Garon. Page 154
13. Time (1935)
14. Council on Foreign Relations (1932), 108.
15. Associated Press (1932), 12.
16. Bisson (2007), 215.

References

• "Agreement Concerning the Exchange of Money Orders Between Canada and Japan". 20 December 1935. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
• Associated Press (18 May 1932). "Demand of Japanese Army for Non-Partisan Cabinet Upsets Plans of Leaders". The Evening Independent. Retrieved 10 September 2009.
• Bisson, T.A (2007). Japan in China. Read Books. ISBN 978-1-4067-2283-3. Retrieved 10 September 2009.
• Byas, Hugh (2005). Government by Assassination. Whitefish, Montana: Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 1-4179-9082-1. Retrieved 10 September 2009.
• Council on Foreign Relations (1932). Political Handbook of the World. Vol. 2000–2002. New York City: McGraw-Hill.
• Duus, Masayo (1999). The Japanese Conspiracy: The Oahu Sugar Strike of 1920. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. p. 113. ISBN 0-520-20485-9. Retrieved 10 September 2009. takejiro tokonami.
• "Foreign News: War Lord's Bribe". Time. 18 February 1935. Archived from the original on December 22, 2011. Retrieved 10 September 2009.
• Garon, Sheldon (1999). The State and Labor in Modern Japan. University of California Press. ISBN 0520068386.
• Hagin, Fred Eugene (1914). The Cross in Japan: A Study of Achievement and Opportunity. Fleming H. Revell. p. 294. Retrieved 10 September 2009. takejiro tokonami.
• Minichiello, Sharon (1998). Japan's Competing Modernities: Issues in Culture and Democracy, 1900-1930. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0824820800.
• Masaoka, Naoichi (2009). From Japan to America: A Symposium of Papers by Political Leaders and Representative Citizens of Japan on Conditions in Japan and on the Relations between Japan and the United States. Bibliobazaar. ISBN 978-1-103-38178-4. Retrieved 10 September 2009.
• Murai, Ryota (2002). "Who Should Govern: The Political Reformation after the First World War in Japan" (PDF). Kobe University Law Review. Kobe: Kobe University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 February 2004. Retrieved 10 September 2009.
• Nakayama, Shigeru; Kunio Gotō; Hitoshi Yoshioka (2006). A Social History of Science and Technology in Contemporary Japan: High Economic Growth Period, 1960-1969. Japanese Society. Vol. 3 (Illustrated ed.). Trans Pacific Press. ISBN 1-876843-29-2. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
• "1929:Cabinet in Trouble : IN OUR PAGES:100, 75 AND 50 YEARS AGO". New York Times. 31 July 2004. Archived from the original on August 10, 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
• Streeck, Wolfgang; Kōzō Yamamura (2005). The Origins of Non-Liberal Capitalism: Germany and Japan in Comparison. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-8983-0. Retrieved 10 September 2009.

External links

• Bio at National Diet Library
• Takejirō Tokonami at Find a Grave

Political offices
Preceded by Minami Hiroshi	Minister of Communications 8 June 1934 – 8 September 1935	Succeeded by Okada Keisuke
Preceded by Hara Osamu	Railway Minister 13 December 1931 – 26 May 1932	Succeeded by Chūzō Mitsuchi
Preceded by Mizuno Rentarō	Home Minister 13 December 1931 – 26 May 1932	Succeeded by Mizuno Rentarō
Preceded by Kusunose Yukihiko	Director of the Karafuto Agency 24 April 1908 – 23 June 1908	Succeeded by Hiraoka Teitarou
Preceded by Okada Kishichōrō	Governor of Tokushima Prefecture 31 Dec 1905 – 17 Jan 1906	Succeeded by Seino Chōtarō
Preceded by Kamei Eizaburō	Governor of Tokushima Prefecture 25 Jan 1904 – 31 Dec 1905	Succeeded by Iwao Saburō