Inukai was born in the
Ushigome
district of
Tokyo
, the son of
Tsuyoshi Inukai
, then a member of the
House of Representatives
from
Okayama
. Their family had been village headmen during the
Edo period
. In 1907 his elder sister married the diplomat
Kenkichi Yoshizawa
.
Inukai attended the School of Philosophy in
Tokyo Imperial University
, but he left without graduating and became a writer. Interested in literature from his student days, he gravitated to the
Shirakaba
("White Birch") literary society due to its liberal and humanistic outlook. His works were influenced by
Mushanok?ji Saneatsu
and
Nagayo Yoshir?
. He became a member of the Japanese chapter of the
International PEN
. Inukai married Nagayo's niece Nakako
In the
1930 House of Representatives election
, Inukai was elected for the
Rikken Seiy?kai
party to a constituency in Tokyo. The following year his father was appointed prime minister and Inukai became as his secretary.
Tsuyoshi Inukai was assassinated in the
May 15 Incident
of 1932. The assassins had also intended to kill the comedian
Charlie Chaplin
, who was a guest of the prime minister, but Takeru Inukai had taken Chaplin to see a sumo match, likely saving both their lives. After his father's death, Inukai left his Tokyo constituency to take over his father's constituency in Okayama.
Inukai served as parliamentary counsellor to the
Ministry of Communications
under the first
Konoe
cabinet. When the
Rikken Seiy?kai
split in 1939, he was part of the neutral faction led by
Tsuneo Kanemitsu
. He was held for questioning by the police in relation to the
Sorge Spy Incident
.
As his father had always supported friendly relations with China, Inukai had contacts and good relations with Chinese politicians during the pre-war period. After his father's assassination in the
May 15 Incident
, he continued to strive for restoration of good Sino-Japanese relations, and especially provided support to the
Wang Jingwei
government in hopes that it would bring the stability that would allow Japan to withdraw its troops from the China quagmire. Thus throughout 1938 until the formation of the
Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China
in 1940, he negotiated with
Gao Zongwu
and
Mei Siping
to come to a peace agreement with
Chiang Kai-shek
, and after failing that, to organize the defection of Wang Jingwei.
In the
1942 General Election
, Inukai was reelected as an independent candidate opposing the
Imperial Rule Assistance Association
.
After the
surrender of Japan
in 1945, Inukai was appointed parliamentary vice minister for foreign affairs under the
Shidehara
cabinet. He also helped organize the
Japan Progressive Party
, the largest party in the diet by far when it was formed. However, as many Diet members had been affiliated to the Imperial Rule Assistance Association the party was severely hurt by
purges
. Out of 273 Diet members at the party's foundation 259 were purged. Inukai was an exception, as he had remained an independent throughout the war.
The party recovered somewhat in the 1946 election and became the second party after the
Japan Liberal Party
led by
Ichiro Hatoyama
. Hatoyama himself was purged and replaced with
Shigeru Yoshida
. The two parties formed a ruling coalition in the first Yoshida cabinet.
In March 1947 the Japan Progressive Party merged with a dissident faction led by
Hitoshi Ashida
in the Liberal Party to form the
Democratic Party
. Ashida became president of the party. After the 1947 election the new party formed a coalition government with the
Japan Socialist Party
led by
Tetsu Katayama
, with Katayama as prime minister and Ashida as deputy prime minister and foreign minister. The Katayama cabinet was brought down by internal dissension in 1948. Ashida took over as prime minister and tried to hold the coalition together, but had to resign in October 1948 due to bribery scandals. Yoshida then returned as prime minister. Ashida was arrested in December and Inukai took over as president of the Democratic Party.
After the
1949 general election
, in which Yoshida was victorious, Inukai led the faction in his party which favoured coalition with Yoshida, but most of the party opposed this. In the end Inukai led his faction to merge with Yoshida's party to form the new
Liberal Party
in 1950.
Inukai joined the cabinet as
Minister of Justice
in October 1952. In the
Shipbuilding Scandal of 1954
, Prime Minister Yoshida pressured Inukai to use his prerogative as Minister of Justice to suspend the arrest of the secretary general of the Liberal Party
Eisaku Sat?
for alleged corruption. Inukai did so, but resigned as Minister of Justice the following day.
Inukai participated in the conservative merger of the Liberal Party and the
Democratic Party
to form the
Liberal Democratic Party
in 1955.
Inukai died in 1960 at the age of 64. His grave is located at
Aoyama Cemetery
in Tokyo.
[1]
His son
Yasuhiko
was president of
Kyodo News
, and his daughter
Michiko
(d. 2017) was an author and a philanthropist.
[2]
- Hoshii, Iwao. Japan's Pseudo-democracy. Routledge. (1993).
ISBN
1873410077
- Mitchell, Richard H. Political bribery in Japan. University of Hawaii Press (1996)
ISBN
0824818199
- Stockwin. J.A.A. Dictionary of the Modern Politics of Japan. Taylor & Francis. (2003).
ISBN
0203402170