Ishibashi of Japan
NAOI, TAKEO
Two New Prime Ministers ISHIBASHI OF JAPAN Publisher, a newcomer to politics, introduced Keynes to Japan By Takeo Ncioi Tokyo Late in December, Tanzan Ishi-bashi was elected president of Japan's...
...Carrying out his ideas was his main reason for entering politics: "After devoting my life to journalism, I have concluded that the pen is weak...
...Ishibashi, now 72, was born the son of a high-ranking priest of the Nichiren Buddhist sect...
...At the same time, smart Japanese traders were selling the Americans high-priced goldfish and other ridiculous items...
...Though German philosophy dominated Japanese schools for many decades, Ishibashi studied the great Anglo-Saxon empiricists...
...The Oriental Economist reprinted The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money long before the war, and translated many other works by and about Keynes...
...Occupation officer in charge of Japan's economic rehabilitation called on Ishibashi for advice...
...Starting with the Manchurian affair in 1931 and throughout the China war which began in 1937, Ishibashi was a persistent critic of the aggressive military clique, its domination of the Cabinet and its repression of civil liberties...
...It is now a tool of the militarists," he once wrote...
...He spent nearly a year on the train from home to oNice leading Das Kapital...
...authorities is now a virtual legend...
...The official reason: "As editor and president of the Oriental Economist, he was responsible for the policies of that publication, which supported military and economic imperialism in Asia, advocated Japan's adherence to the Axs, fostered belief in the inevitability of war with the Western Powers, justified suppression of trade unionism, and urged the imposition of totalitarian controls over the Japanese people...
...Later Ishibashi entered politics and became Finance Minister in the cabinet of Shigeru Yoshida...
...He was trying to cut Occupation expenses drastically...
...In August 1939, when the Nazi-Soviet pact forced the resignation of a Japanese government, Ishibashi wrote a long article attacking the militarists which the censor suppressed...
...He studied philosophy at Waseda University (founded early in the Meiji era by Okuma, a vigorous political opponent of bureaucratic government), but soon turned to economics...
...Public opinion greeted it as a triumph for a personality and policies over the traditional large following, linked by power and money...
...Kishi, a capable bureaucrat both before and after the war, possessed a large following and had been quite confident...
...Soon after the war, a high U.S...
...This independence, by a man whose thinking is quite rational and never sentimental, was probably what led to his dismissal by the Occupation...
...Two New Prime Ministers ISHIBASHI OF JAPAN Publisher, a newcomer to politics, introduced Keynes to Japan By Takeo Ncioi Tokyo Late in December, Tanzan Ishi-bashi was elected president of Japan's Liberal-Democratic party, then named Prime Minister by the Diet...
...He replied that he sincerely wished for the success of the American administration, and advised the officer to seek the opinions of Japanese experts...
...Now, having succeeded Ichiro Hat-oyama as Japan's Premier, Ishibashi declares: "I intend to carry out my ideas—and if some people don't like them, that can't be helped...
...His economic thinking today cannot be understood apart from it...
...It was Ishibashi who introduced Keynes to Japan...
...Now our nation is in complete confusion, and there is little time to lose...
...The nation needs flexible, not rigid polices whether it is socialistically-inclined or not...
...For 36 years he wrote for, edited and finally presided over the influential Oriental Economist...
...The new Premier had more friends among the Socialists than among the Liberals, and was once inclined to join them...
...The idea was considered blasphemous then...
...It is said that he personally appealed to the Supreme Commander...
...At one time, Ishibashi was wont to deliver lectures to his editors, with the General Theory as his text...
...His clash with U.S...
...His economics was self-taught, beginning with Adam Smith and Marx, ending vvitli John Maynard Keynes...
...Since Ishibashi's long record as a staunch liberal was generally known, people were not quite convinced by this picture—especially when the clearance committee unanimously reversed the directive...
...Ishibashi was Western-minded long before most Japanese...
...The Cabinet is dead...
...We cannot cope with postwar difficulties with a dogmatic approach...
...In the party election, Ishibashi trailed Nobusuke Kishi by 70 votes on the first ballot, but won a narrow (258 to 251) victory on the second...
...Many years ago, when the great Emperor Meiji died, the Government decided to build a shrine in his honor...
...for the Occupation troops, etc...
...But, after becoming a Liberal, he told this correspondent: "I feared that the Socialists were too limited in their policies and actions by their own dogma...
...These cun>tituted a third of the national budget, and included substantial sums for building golf courses, hydroponie farms Nevertheless, he believes that Smith's Wealth of Nations is "imperishable...
...Ishibashi proposed a Meiji Prize, like the Nobel Prize, instead...
...Nevertheless, in the spring of 1949 an Occupation directive, signed by Brigadier General Courtney Whitney, ordered the Japanese Government to purge Ishibashi as "an undesirable person...
...The next issue of the Oriental Economist contained a signed article: "Freedom of Speech and Reporting...
...Good ideas and correct judgments were frequently ignored by politicians, or adopted two years too late...
...Since Ishibashi had only entered politics after the war, having devoted most of his life to economic journalism, his victory was a surprise...
...Ishibashi feared inflation as a result of the Occupation forces' lavish spending...
...The economic officer who had spoken to him had long since departed, and Ishibashi soon ran afoul of SCAP...
...Ishibashi was labeled unpatriotic, and the Army General Staff stopped subscriptions to the magazine...
Vol. 40 • January 1957 • No. 4
