Ikeda Shigeaki (池田成彬, 15 August 1867 – 9 October 1950), also known as Seihin Ikeda, was a politician, cabinet minister and businessman in the
Imperial Privy Council; following Japan's defeat in World War II, Ikeda was banned from public political service.[1]
Background
Ikeda was born in 1867, the final year of the
Tokyo Imperial University failed due to his lack of English language skills; however after 18 months of private tutoring he was able to secure admission into the newly formed Department of Economics at Keio University in 1890. At the recommendation of Harvard professor Arthur Knapp, who was stationed at Keio University, Ikeda was sent to study at Harvard University
in the United States from 1890-1895. After graduation, he returned to Japan and obtained a job at the Jiji Shimpo newspaper, but quit after only three weeks.
In December 1895, at the recommendation of director
Mitsui zaibatsu
. In 1904, he married the eldest daughter of managing director Nakamigawa Hirojirō. He helped establish Mitsui Bank as a stock company in 1911, of which he became a director and was appointed managing director in 1919.
After the
Showa Financial Crisis of 1927, Ikeda came under criticism when it was discovered that his precipitous withdrawal of funds from the overextended Bank of Taiwan in order to protect Mitsui assets was one of the primary causes for the collapse of the Bank of Taiwan, the second-tier zaibatsuSuzuki Shoten
, and the subsequent financial panic.
Ikeda became de facto head of the Mitsui zaibatsu in 1932. He was able to depose the Mitsui family from the senior management of the zaibatsu and from the leadership of key group companies, which he took public by offering stock on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. He was also influential in donations to numerous charity and social projects. Ikeda also implemented a retirement system within Mitsui set at the age of 70, at which point he also retired.
Public career
On his retirement from Mitsui in 1937,Ikeda accepted the position of president of the Bank of Japan. The same year, he was asked to become a Cabinet councilor by Prime MinisterFumimaro Konoe. He was also an advisor to the Ministry of Finance, the North China Development Company and Central China Promotion Company. From 1938-1939, he became both Minister of Finance and Minister of Commerce and Industry.
On 5 December 1938, along with the Prime Minister,
Fugu Plan" which would bring several thousand Jews to the Empire of Japan, from Nazi-controlled Europe.[2]
Ikeda's name was floated as a possible successor to Konoe as Prime Minister; however, this was strongly opposed by the Imperial Japanese Army, with whom Ikeda had repeatedly clashed over matters of finance. However, he was retained as a Cabinet councilor under Prime Minister Hiranuma Kiichirō, and was also President of the Price Control Board.
Ikeda became a member of the
Privy Council in 1941, and was banned from engaging in political activity as a result, following the end of World War II.[1]
Post-war period
In December 1945, following the
Oiso, Kanagawa, but cooperated with the American occupation officials in the dissolution of the zaibatsu, which earned him the enmity of many former colleagues within the Mitsui group. His close neighbor, Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida
also consulted with Ikeda frequently on matters of finance and personnel. Ikeda died at his home in Oiso in 1950, due to complications arising from intestinal ulcers.
References
Metzler, Mark. Lever of Empire: The International Gold Standard and the Crisis of Liberalism in Prewar Japan. University of California Press (2006)
^ abFrédéric, Louis. "Ikeda Seihin". Japan Encyclopedia. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2002.
^Tokayer, Marvin and Mary Swartz. The Fugu Plan: The Untold Story of the Japanese and the Jews During World War Two. New York: Weatherhill, Inc., 1979. pp56-61.
