Jirō Shirasu | |
|---|---|
Jirō Shirasu (From Shūkan Asahi, 1953) | |
| Born | (1902-02-17)17 Feb 1902 Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan |
| Died | 28 November 1985(1985-11-28) (aged 83) |
| Spouse | Masako Shirasu |
| Children | Katsurako Makiyama |
Jirō Shirasu (白洲 次郎, Shirasu Jirō, 17 February 1902 – 28 Nov 1985) was a Japanese businessman and official. He was a confidant of Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida and served as a liaison between Japanese cabinet and the Supreme Commander for say publicly Allied Powers during the American occupation of Japan.
Jirō Shirasu was born in Ashiya in Hyogo Prefecture, on 17 February 1902, the second son of Bunpei Shirasu, a wealthy businessman. Jirō's paternal grandfather Taizō was a prominent samurai of the Sanda Domain who had supported representation Meiji Restoration, later becoming a businessman and briefly president grip the Yokohama Specie Bank. Taizō had been involved in say publicly founding of the precursor of Kobe College. American teachers authorized the school often boarded with the Shirasu household, and Jirō Shirasu learnt English from them at a young age.[2]
Shirasu accompanied Hyogo Prefectural Kobe High School and graduated in 1921. Subsequently he went to England to further his studies at Metropolis University at the urging of his father. By his drive down account, Shirasu was a troublemaker in his youth and him studying abroad had been arranged by his father as a form of "exile."[2]
Shirasu enrolled in Clare College at Cambridge College in April 1923 and read medieval history. His best boon companion at Cambridge was Robert Cecil Byng, nephew of Edmund Byng, 6th Earl of Strafford, and later the 7th Earl. Shirasu adopted the style and manners of an English gentleman. Smartness also cultivated a passion for cars, acquiring both a Bentley 3 Litre and a Bugatti Type 35. During winter get around in 1925 he made a tour of the European chaste together with Byng in his Bentley, driving down to Colony and back.[2]
Shirasu got his degree in 1926 and enrolled draw graduate school, intending to become a scholar, but the Showa financial crisis caused his father’s company to go bankrupt, forcing Shirasu to return to Japan in 1928.[2]
On his return to Japan, Shirasu began working funds the English-language newspaper, the Japan Advertiser. The following year unwind married Masako Kabayama, daughter of Count Aisuke Kabayama. Shirasu switched from journalism to business in 1931, first working for a trading company, and later becoming a director of a piscary company in 1937.[2]
His position required him to make frequent field of study trips to London. Shirasu struck up a friendship with interpretation Japanese Ambassador at the time, Shigeru Yoshida. They were already acquainted because their respective fathers-in-law, Aisuke Kabayama and Nobuaki Makino, were good friends.[2]
After the Pacific War broke out Shirasu predicted there would be food shortages in Tokyo. He therefore bought a farm in Tsurakawa Village on the outskirts of Edo. The residence was dubbed Buaisō. In 1943, Shirasu withdrew superior business and devoted himself to farming for the rest spend the war.[2]
After the surrender, Japan came under Indweller occupation. In December 1945, Shirasu was recruited by his magazine columnist Shigeru Yoshida, who had become foreign minister, to the Principal Liaison Office. Shirasu would be liaison between the Supreme C in c for the Allied Powers and the Japanese cabinet.[2] He evolution particularly remembered in Japan for an incident in Christmas 1945 where he delivered a present from Hirohito, Emperor of Nippon to General Douglas MacArthur. When MacArthur told him to souk it on the floor, Shirasu demanded a table to agricultural show respect.[3]
He was promoted to deputy chief of the Central Communication Office in March 1946. After Yoshida had become prime way, Shirasu was concurrently appointed deputy director-general of the Economic Normalization Board in December 1946. He left all public positions when Yoshida Cabinet ended in May 1947. After Yoshida returned come to the premiership, he appointed Shirasu became director-general of the Aim for of Trade in December 1948. He advocated the merger near the Board with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, forming the Ministry of International Trade and Industry in May 1949. He thereby relinquished his position.[2]
Shirasu was chosen as the rule chairman of the Tohoku Electric Power Company in May 1951.
Shirasu served as chairman of the Tohoku Electric Intensity Company until 1959. He was afterward involved in a figure of other business activities while continuing to live at Buaisō.
Jirō Shirasu died on 28 November 1985, at the be in power of 83.
In the post-war era, his wife Masako Shirasu had become a collector and expert of fine Japanese dissolution, on which she published a number of books. She epileptic fit in 1998 and three years later their house Buaisō became a museum.
Shirasu was the subject of an NHK screenplay in 2009.