Takaaki Katō resigns

The British chronology of the war records the resignation of the Japanese Foreign Minister Takaaki Katō under 9 August 1915. According to Japanese lists of ministers he held office until 10 August, the day on which Emperor Yoshihito approved the reshuffled government of Prime Minister Shigenobu Ōkuma. His departure had been decided earlier, in a crisis that had shaken the cabinet since the end of July. Together with Katō, the Finance Minister Reijirō Wakatsuki and the Navy Minister, Admiral Rokurō Yashiro, left the government.

The Ōura affair

The crisis was triggered by a bribery scandal. In December 1914 the Ōkuma government wanted to push through parliament a bill creating two new army divisions, but it was opposed by the opposition Rikken Seiyūkai party, which had a majority in the lower house. The then Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, Kanetake Ōura, associated with the camp of Field Marshal Aritomo Yamagata, bribed opposition deputies through the secretary-general of the lower house, Kametarō Hayashida. The bill failed anyway and parliament was dissolved. In the election of 25 March 1915 the government won a great victory, but Ōura, Home Minister since January, was accused of putting massive pressure on voters. In May a Seiyūkai activist lodged a complaint with the prosecutors, and the investigation uncovered the bribes. Hayashida was arrested. The Justice Minister agreed with the prosecutors that Ōura would escape indictment if he withdrew from politics. On 30 July Ōura resigned, and a few days later he also gave up his seat in the House of Peers.

The resignation of the whole government and its consequences

On 30 July all members of the government tendered their resignations. According to Japanese studies, the Emperor, without even consulting the genrō, the elder statesmen, expressed the wish that Ōkuma should remain. The Prime Minister agreed to reshuffle the cabinet. Most ministers kept their posts, which is why critics called the whole resignation theatrical. Katō, Wakatsuki and Yashiro, however, did not return to the government. Studies link Katō’s departure both to his share of responsibility for the scandal as leader of the ruling Rikken Dōshikai party and to the hostility of the genrō. According to historians, the elder statesmen had been demanding his removal for months, because he conducted foreign policy without consulting them and denied them access to diplomatic documents.

A diplomat from London

Katō was 55. He was born in 1860 in Owari Province, in what is now Aichi Prefecture. He graduated top of his class in law at the university in Tokyo, worked for the Mitsubishi concern and married the eldest daughter of its founder, Yatarō Iwasaki. From 1894 to 1899 he was minister in London and contributed to the conclusion of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. He was Foreign Minister four times. In August 1914 it was he who persuaded the government, the Emperor and the genrō that Japan should deliver an ultimatum to Germany and enter the war. In January 1915 he presented China with the Twenty-One Demands, which ended in the May ultimatum and sharply worsened relations with China.

Leaving the government did not end his career. Later in 1915 he took a seat in the House of Peers, in 1916 he became leader of the new Kenseikai party, and from 1924 to 1926 he was Prime Minister. His government introduced universal male suffrage. In the meantime the Foreign Ministry was run by Prime Minister Ōkuma himself.