Ishibashi, Tanzan

Ishibashi, Tanzan,

1884–1973, Japanese politician, b. Tokyo. The son of a Buddhist priest, he studied philosophy at Waseda Univ. (grad. 1907) and became a journalist. He was appointed (1946) minister of finance under Shigeru YoshidaYoshida, Shigeru
, 1878–1967, Japanese statesman. He was until 1954 the most powerful political figure in postwar Japan. He was ambassador to Italy (1930–32) and to Great Britain (1936–39).
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, but was forced to resign (1947) because of his liberal political views. Allowed to return to politics in 1951, Ishibashi became minister of trade and industry (1954) under Ichiro HatoyamaHatoyama, Ichiro
, 1883–1959, Japanese statesman. A graduate of the law school of Tokyo Imperial Univ., he was first elected to the lower house of the Japanese legislature in 1915. Hatoyama was education minister in the Inukai and Saito cabinets (1931–34).
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 and joined the Liberal Democratic partyLiberal Democratic party
(LDP), Japanese political party. It began as the conservative Liberal party, which, under Shigeru Yoshida, became the dominant political force in Japan following World War II. In 1955 the Liberals merged with the newly created Democratic party.
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 at its founding in 1955. Prime minister for only two months (Dec. 1956–Jan. 1957), he resigned because of ill health. Ishibashi also was president of Rissho Univ. from 1952 to 1968.

Ishibashi, Tanzan

 

Born Sept. 25, 1884, in Tokyo. Japanese politician, state figure, and economist.

Ishibashi worked for a company that published economic literature. In 1934 he became editor of Oriental Economist, an English-language journal. From December 1954 through December 1956 he was minister of international trade and industry and from December 1956 through February 1957, president of the Liberal-Democratic Party and prime minister. Ishibashi advocated broadening economic ties with the USSR and other socialist countries. He was president of the Japan-USSR Friendship Society in 1959–60.