Tanomogi Keikichi | |
|---|---|
頼母木 桂吉 | |
 Tanomogi in 1929 | |
| Mayor of Tokyo | |
| In office 24 April 1939 – 19 February 1940 | |
| Preceded by | Ichita Kobashi |
| Succeeded by | Okubo Tomejiro |
| Minister of Communications | |
| In office 9 March 1936 – 2 February 1937 | |
| Prime Minister | Kōki Hirota |
| Preceded by | Mochizuki Keisuke |
| Succeeded by | Tatsunosuke Yamazaki |
| Member of theHouse of Representatives | |
| In office 25 March 1915 – 19 February 1940 | |
| Preceded by | Multi-member district |
| Succeeded by | Shinroku Tanomogi |
| Constituency | Tokyo City (1915–1920) Tokyo 7th (1920–1928) Tokyo 3rd (1928–1940) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Inoue Keikichi (1867-11-05)5 November 1867 Fukuyama, Hiroshima, Japan |
| Died | 19 February 1940(1940-02-19) (aged 72) |
| Resting place | Yanaka Cemetery |
| Party | Rikken Minseitō (1927–1940) |
| Other political affiliations | Rikken Dōshikai (1915–1916) Kenseikai (1916–1927) |
| Children | Shinroku Tanomogi (adopted) |
| Education | First Higher School |
Tanomogi Keikichi (頼母木桂吉; 5 November 1867 – 19 February 1940) was a Japanese journalist, politician and cabinet minister inTaishō and earlyShōwa period Japan. His wife, Tanomogi Koma, was a noted violinist and professor of music at theTokyo Academy of Music.[1]
Tanomogi was born in what is now part ofFukuyama, Hiroshima, and his surname at birth was Inoue. In 1903, he was adopted into the Tanomogi family by marriage. After graduating from theFirst Higher School in Tokyo, he travelled to the United States for studies, and after his return to Japan found employment with theHōchi Shimbun newspaper in 1896. In 1899 he founded his own newspaper, theChōnō Shimbun, but returned to theHōchi Shimbun in 1901 and was instrumental in the expansion of that firm in a major national newspaper with increased business coverage, hiring Japan's first woman journalist,[2] and the issuing of an evening edition in 1906. Also in 1906 he travelled to the United States and Europe on an inspection tour of the overseas newspaper business and on his return to Japan almost three years later in 1908, he founded apress club the Japan Press Agency. He also established a company to import raw film forphoto journalism, and footage of the assassination ofItō Hirobumi in 1910 created a sensation.
Tanomogi was elected as an assemblyman fromAsakusa Ward in Tokyo in 1911.
In the1915 General Election, Tanomogi was elected to theHouse of Representatives under theRikken Dōshikai political party. He was elected a total of nine times, changing his party affiliation to theKenseikai (where he was chairman of the Policy Affairs Research Council), and theRikken Minseitō (where he was secretary-general and director of general affairs). He became undersecretary of communications under theKatō Takaaki Cabinet and theFirst Wakatsuki Cabinet, and was subsequentlyMinister of Communications in theHirota Cabinet from March 1936 to February 1937.
During his tenure as communications minister, Tanomogi promulgated an aggressive five-year shipbuilding plan to expand Japan's merchant fleet by six million tons with government subsidies. He also promoted the completenationalization of Japan's electric power industry, with the state assuming complete managerial control without actually seizing ownership. The plan was based onfascist economic theories and had the benefit to the government of enabling state control without the expense of compensating owners. Although the plan had the support of theImperial Japanese Army, who say it as a stepping stone to furtherstate control of the economy, strong opposition by the business community delayed its implementation until after Tanomogi left office in 1938.[3] Tanomogi was also instrumental in creating laws under which only theDōmei Tsushin was allowed to receive and send overseas telegraph messages, thus giving Dōmei a monopoly from which every Japanese newspaper was forced to obtain its news.[4]
In 1938, Tanomogi returned to theHōchi Shimbun as its president. In 1939, he was elected Mayor of Tokyo. He died while in office and his grave is atYanaka Cemetery in Tokyo.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister of Communications 9 Mar 1936 – 2 Feb 1937 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Mayor of Tokyo 24 Apr 1939 – 19 Feb 1940 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
