Hitoshi Ashida
芦田 均
Official portrait, 1948
Prime Minister of Japan
In office
10 March 1948 – 15 October 1948
MonarchShōwa
GovernorDouglas MacArthur
DeputySuehiro Nishio
Preceded byTetsu Katayama
Succeeded byShigeru Yoshida
Personal details
Born(1887-11-15)15 November 1887
Fukuchiyama, Japan
Died20 June 1959(1959-06-20) (aged 71)
Tokyo, Japan
Political partyLiberal Democratic Party (1955–1959)
Other political
affiliations		Rikken Seiyūkai (Before 1945)
Liberal Party (1945–1947)
Democratic Party (1947–1950)
National Democratic Party (1950–1952)
Kaishintō (1952–1954)
Japan Democratic Party (1954–1955)
Alma materTokyo Imperial University
Signature

Hitoshi Ashida (芦田 均, Ashida Hitoshi, 15 November 1887 – 20 June 1959) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan in 1948. He was a prominent figure in the immediate postwar political landscape, but was forced to resign his leadership responsibilities after a corruption scandal (Shōwa Denkō Jiken) targeting two of his cabinet ministers.

Early life

Hitoshi Ashida as diplomat in 1931

Ashida was born in Fukuchiyama, Kyoto, the second son of politician and banker Shikanosuke Ashida.[1] His father had been in the House of Representatives and served as director of Nōkō Bank. His grandfather was landed magnate and village headman (nanushi) Jizaemon Ashida.[2]

He studied French civil law at Tokyo Imperial University. After graduation, he worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for twenty years.

Early career

In 1932, Ashida ran his first successful campaign for a seat in the House of Representatives as a member of the Seiyūkai Party. He sided with Ichirō Hatoyama's "orthodox" wing following the Seiyukai's split in 1939.

After the war, Ashida won a seat in the new Diet as a member of the Liberal Party, from which he split to merge with Kijūrō Shidehara's Progressive Party to form the Democratic Party. Ashida was elected president of the new party, and became minister of foreign affairs in 1947 under Socialist prime minister Tetsu Katayama.

He also chaired the Committee on the Bill for Revision of the Imperial Constitution, and served as the chairman of the Kenpō Fukyū Kai, a society created to promote the revised Constitution of Japan, from 1946–1948.[3][4] During his term, he made a key amendment to Article Nine of the planned Japanese Constitution, which enabled the creation of the Japanese Self-Defense Force.[5]

Prime minister and later life

Hitoshi Ashida (L) during a visit to Israel in 1958, with Golda Meir and the Japanese Ambassador to Israel, Kuniyoshi Negishi

Ashida became prime minister in 1948, leading a coalition government of Democratic and Socialist members. His tenure ended just seven months after it began. Two of his cabinet ministers were accused of corruption in the Showa Electric scandal, which forced the cabinet to resign.[6] One of them was Takeo Kurusu, a state minister without a portfolio.[7]

After his tenure as prime minister, Ashida focused on Japan's position in Asia and re-armament. He became outspoken in support of creating a national defense force after the outbreak of the Korean War, fearing that a similar conflict may occur in Japan. Ashida also promoted the idea of forming a Japanese group of volunteers to fight alongside United Nations Command in support of the Republic of Korea. In 1951, he gave speaking tours across Japan advocating for his interpretation of Article 9, stating that it does not impose restrictions on Japan preparing a force for defensive purposes.[8]

In 1958, Ashida was cleared of all charges in relation to corruption allegations. He died a year later at the age of seventy-one.


References

  1. ↑ "国会会議録検索システム". National Diet of Japan. Retrieved 2022-03-05.
  2. ↑ Record of members of the Kyoto Prefectural Assembly 京都府議会歴代議員録. 京都府議会事務局. 京都府議会. 1961. pp. 889–890.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  3. ↑ "Alfred Hussey, Memorandum on Program for Publicizing the new Japanese Constitution, February 5, 1947". Birth of the Japanese Constitution. National Diet Library of Japan. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  4. ↑ "The Constitution of Japan (The Official Gazettes, a Special Edition)". World Digital Library. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  5. ↑ Fumiko Sasaki (26 July 2012). Nationalism, Political Realism and Democracy in Japan: The thought of Masao Maruyama. Routledge. p. 136. ISBN 978-1-136-31378-3. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  6. ↑ Masaru Kōno (1997). Japan's postwar party politics. Princeton University Press. p. 64. ISBN 978-0-691-01596-5. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  7. ↑ Richard H. Mitchell (1996). Political Bribery in Japan. University of Hawaii University. pp. 102–103. doi:10.1515/9780824863968. ISBN 9780824863968.
  8. ↑ Hajimu, Masuda (July 2012). "Fear of World War III: Social Politics of Japan's Rearmament and Peace Movements, 1950–3". Journal of Contemporary History. 47 (3): 551–571. doi:10.1177/0022009412441650. ISSN 0022-0094. S2CID 154135817.
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