Tetsu Katayama

Tetsu Katayama 片山 哲
Prime Minister of Japan
In office 24 May 1947 – 10 March 1948
Monarch	Shōwa
Governor	Douglas MacArthur
Preceded by	Shigeru Yoshida
Succeeded by	Hitoshi Ashida
Personal details
Born	(1887-07-28)28 July 1887 Tanabe, Japan
Died	30 May 1978(1978-05-30) (aged 90)
Political party	Democratic Socialist Party (1928–1978)
Other political affiliations	Socialist Party (Before 1948)
Alma mater	Tokyo Imperial University
Religion	Christianity (Christian socialism)
Signature

Tetsu Katayama (片山 哲, Katayama Tetsu, 28 July 1887 – 30 May 1978) was a Japanese politician and the 46th prime minister from 24 May 1947 to 10 March 1948. He bears the distinction of having been the first socialist to serve as prime minister of Japan. Katayama was also only the second Japanese Christian prime minister since World War II.^[1]

Early life

He was born in Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture on 28 July 1887.^[2] He attended Tokyo Imperial University and received a bachelor's degree in law.^[2] Raised in the Christian faith, he was strongly influenced by the Christian Socialism of Abe Isoo. After graduating, he opened a law office in a rented YMCA dormitory, and worked as an attorney.^[2]

Early political life

Katayama became secretary-general of the Social People's Party when it was established in 1926.^[2] He was elected to the House of Representatives, representing Kanagawa Prefecture, in 1930.^[2] Later in 1932, he joined the executive committee of the Socialist Masses Party. However, he was removed from the party, since he did not participated in the session of the House where Takao Saito was expelled from the House due to his antimilitary speech.^[2] After World War II, Katayama began to serve as secretary-general of the Japan Socialist Party when it was established in November 1945.^[2] Next in September 1946, he became the chairman of the party's executive committee.^[2]

Prime Minister and later life

Following the 1947 elections, in which the Socialist Party came in first, Katayama formed a coalition government with the Democratic Party and the Citizens' Cooperation Party. Despite being a short-lived administration, Katayama's government was responsible for the enactment of a wide range of progressive social reforms, such as the establishment of Japans first Labour Ministry,^[3] an Unemployment Compensation Act and an Unemployment Insurance Act, and the overhaul revision of the Civil Code, whose section on the family institution was completely rewritten (to provide, for instance, the eldest son with a greater inheritance share).^[4][5]

The Employment Security Law of November 1947 contained authority for the government to operate a system of free public employment exchanges on a broader and more democratic basis than under the former Employment Exchange Law. It also provided for public services to the handicapped in securing employment, and outlawed labor bosses and other undemocratic forms of labor recruitment.^[6] The Child Welfare Law of December 1947 extended special protection to abused, abandoned, and neglected children, guaranteed the privacy rights of children born out of wedlock, established health-care programmes for mothers and children, provided for prenatal care, outlawed the employment of minors in dangerous occupations, and abolished the practice of indentured labour. The legislation also laid the institutional foundation for a nationwide system of childcare centres, created standards for foster parentage, and made the state responsible for setting up and supervising orphanages and other juvenile institutions.^[5]

The Law for the Elimination of Excessive Economic Concentration (passed in December 1947) provided for the dissolution of any company considered to be monopolistic,^[7] while the “law on the expulsion of Zaibatsu-affiliated controls” of January 1948 enforced the resignation of Zaibatsu board members who were related closely to Zaibatsu families, while a measure was taken to ban on holding the concurrent board posts of their affiliated companies. In addition, the military ministries were abolished, extensive revisions were made to criminal law, and progress was made on land reform.^[8]

At the end of the 1950s, Katayama was also the president of the Japan's Temperance Union.^[9] The influence of left-wing socialists such as Suzuki Mosaburō forced Katayama to resign early in his term. After his resignation, Katayama became a member of the Democratic Socialist Party and advocated the maintenance of the pacifist constitution, election reform, and formation of a global commonwealth. In 1963, Katayama left politics after he lost his seat in the general elections.^[2]

Honours

From the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia

• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (1964)
• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers (1978; posthumous)

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v t e Prime Ministers of Japan (List) H. Itō Kuroda Sanjō Yamagata Matsukata H. Itō Kuroda Matsukata H. Itō Ōkuma Yamagata H. Itō Saionji Katsura Saionji Katsura Saionji Katsura Yamamoto Ōkuma Terauchi Hara Uchida Takahashi To. Katō Uchida Yamamoto Kiyoura Ta. Katō Wakatsuki G. Tanaka Hamaguchi Shidehara Hamaguchi Wakatsuki Inukai Takahashi Saitō Okada Gotō Okada Hirota Hayashi Konoe Hiranuma N. Abe Yonai Konoe Tōjō Koiso K. Suzuki Higashikuni Shidehara Yoshida Katayama Ashida Yoshida I. Hatoyama Ishibashi Kishi Ikeda Satō K. Tanaka Miki T. Fukuda Ōhira M. Itō Z. Suzuki Nakasone Takeshita Uno Kaifu Miyazawa Hosokawa Hata Murayama Hashimoto Obuchi Aoki Mori Koizumi S. Abe Y. Fukuda Asō Y. Hatoyama Kan Noda S. Abe Italics denote acting Prime Ministers

See also

• Katayama Cabinet

References