Ashida Hitoshi

Ashida Hitoshi as Prime Minister.

Ashida Hitoshi ( Japanese. 芦 田 均 ; born November 15, 1887 in Fukuchiyama , Kyoto Prefecture ; † June 20, 1959 in Tokyo Prefecture ) was a civil Japanese politician and 1948 Prime Minister of Japan .

Life

Ashida became a civil servant in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after graduating from the law faculty of the Imperial University of Tokyo in 1912 . Among other things, he worked in the embassies in Russia , France , Turkey and Belgium . In 1932 he left the ministry and switched to politics.

When Shugiin-1932 election Ashida was for the party Rikken Seiyū-kai into Shugiin chosen, the lower house, which he then until his death was a member. From 1933 to 1939 he was also president of the Japan Times and Mail , an English language newspaper in Tokyo .

Ashida's grave

After the Second World War , Ashida initially belonged to the Liberal Party of Japan , for which he was a member of the Shidehara cabinet as Minister of Social Affairs from 1945 to 1946 . In 1946 he chaired the House of Commons committee that worked on drafting a new constitution based on the draft by Douglas MacArthur and the GHQ . In 1947 he participated together with the deputies of the "Progressive Party of Japan" ( Nihon Shimpo-tō ) and parts of the Liberals in the establishment of the Democratic Party and became party chairman. He was Deputy Prime Minister in the Katayama Tetsu coalition government led by the Socialist Party of Japan (SPJ). After Katayama's resignation, the House of Commons elected Ashida as his successor on February 21, 1948.

As Prime Minister he also took over the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Against his coalition government with the SPJ and Kokumin-kyōdō-tō , allegations of corruption were raised in April 1948. The chemical company Shōwa Denkō had received government loans and allegedly paid bribes to high-ranking officials and ministers. The allegations intensified, parliament opened an investigation in June 1948, and finally Minister of State Nishio Suehiro (SPJ) was arrested on charges of bribery. On October 5th, Ashida and his cabinet resigned.

In December 1948 Ashida was arrested because of the Shōwa-denkō scandal, but later acquitted of the allegations. He later belonged to the Kaishin-tō , the Democratic Party of Japan and finally the Liberal Democratic Party .

Ashida died of cancer at the age of 71.

See also

Commons : Hitoshi Ashida  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Ashida cabinet

Web links

• National Parliamentary Library : Historical Figures (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Milestones . In: Time , June 29, 1959.

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . So Ashida is the family name, Hitoshi the first name.