Kisaburo Suzuki
Kisaburo Suzuki (1867-1940) was a Japanese lawyer, judicial official and political leader. He was president of the Seiyukai party. He served as Justice Minister and Home Minister in the Inukai cabinet, but did not become Prime Minister as many had expected after Inukai's assassination.
After graduating from the Law Faculty of Tokyo University, he entered the Justice Ministry and successively was Judge of the Tokyo Kosoin (High Court), Chief of the Criminal Affairs Bureau of the Justice Ministry, Vice Justice Minister, and Public Prosecutor General. [1] At the time the Ministry, the career tracks of judges and procurators had not yet separated. He was a protege of Kiichi Hiranuma.[2]
In 1920 he was elected as a member of the House of Peers, and served as Justice Minister in the Kiyoura cabinet. He entered the Seiyukai, and was elected as Home Minister in the Tanaka cabinet. He resigned from the post under criticism for having interfered in the first universal election held in 1928.
In 1932, he was elected as a member of the House of Representatives. Despite being promoted from Justice Minister to Home Minister in the Inukai cabinet, serving as the President of the Seiyukai after the May 15 Incident, and winning an absolute majority in the House of Representatives, he did not become Prime Minister as expected, due to changes in palace policy.
After the assassination, Emperor Hirohito chose to move away from the experiment in party cabinets, and move to a bureaucratic system. The new goal was a countercoup government. He preferred a Prime Minister of stern character, such as Admiral Makoto Saito, rather than a party politician such as Suzuki, whom he considered a party politician.[3]
References
- ↑ Suzuki, Kisaburo, National Diet Library
- ↑ Daniel Harrington Foote (2008), Law in Japan: a turning point, University of Washington Press, p. 116
- ↑ Herbert P. Bix (2001), Hirohito and the making of modern Japan, Harper Perennial, ISBN 978-0060931308, pp. 252-254