Editing Hitoshi Ashida

{{Short description|Prime Minister of Japan in 1948}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix    = [[Junior Second Rank]]
| name                = Hitoshi Ashida
| native_name         = {{nobold|芦田 均}}
| native_name_lang    = ja
| image               = Hitoshi Ashida.jpg
| caption             = Official portrait, 1948
| office              = [[Prime Minister of Japan]]
| monarch             = [[Hirohito]]
| governor            = [[Douglas MacArthur]]
| deputy              = [[Suehiro Nishio]]
| term_start          = 10 March 1948
| term_end            = 15 October 1948
| predecessor         = [[Tetsu Katayama]]
| successor           = [[Shigeru Yoshida]]
| office1             = [[Minister for Foreign Affairs (Japan)|Minister for Foreign Affairs]]
| primeminister1      = Tetsu Katayama<br>''Himself''
| term_start1         = 1 June 1947
| term_end1           = 15 October 1948
| predecessor1        = Tetsu Katayama (acting)
| successor1          = Shigeru Yoshida
| office2             = [[Deputy Prime Minister of Japan]]
| primeminister2      = Tetsu Katayama
| term_start2         = 1 June 1947
| term_end2           = 10 March 1948
| predecessor2        = [[Kijūrō Shidehara]]
| successor2          = Suehiro Nishio
| office3             = [[Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare|Minister of Health and Welfare]]
| primeminister3      = Kijūrō Shidehara
| term_start3         = 9 October 1945
| term_end3           = 22 May 1946
| predecessor3        = [[Kenzō Matsumura]]
| successor3          = [[Yoshinari Kawai]]
| office4             = Member of the [[House of Representatives (Japan)|House of Representatives]]
| constituency4       = [[Kyoto 3rd district (1928–1942)|Kyoto 3rd]] (1932–1946)<br>[[Kyoto at-large district (House of Representatives)|Kyoto at-large]] (1946–1947)<br>[[Kyoto 2nd district (1947–1993)|Kyoto 2nd]] (1947–1959)
| term_start4         = 21 February 1932
| term_end4           = 20 June 1959
| predecessor4        = 
| successor4          = 
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|1887|11|15|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Fukuchiyama, Kyoto]], [[Empire of Japan|Japan]]
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|1959|6|20|1887|11|15|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Minato, Tokyo]], Japan
| spouse              = {{marriage|Sumi Hase|1918}}
| signature           = AshidaH kao.png
| party               = [[Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)|LDP]] (1955–1959)
| otherparty          = [[Rikken Seiyūkai]] (before 1940)<br>[[Imperial Rule Assistance Association|IRAA]] (1940–1945)<br>[[Liberal Party (Japan, 1945)|JLP]] (1945–1947)<br>[[Democratic Party (Japan, 1947)|DP]] (1947–1950)<br>[[National Democratic Party (Japan)|NDP]] (1950–1952)<br>[[Kaishintō]] (1952–1954)<br>[[Japan Democratic Party (1954)|JDP]] (1954–1955)
| alma_mater          = [[University of Tokyo|Tokyo Imperial University]]
}}
{{Nihongo|'''Hitoshi Ashida'''|芦田 均|Ashida Hitoshi|15 November 1887 – 20 June 1959}} was a Japanese [[politician]] who served as [[Prime Minister of Japan]] in 1948. He was a prominent figure in the immediate postwar political landscape, but was forced to resign his leadership responsibilities after a corruption scandal (Shōwa Denkō Jiken) targeting two of his cabinet ministers.

==Early life and education==
[[File:Hitoshi Ashida 1931.jpg|left|thumb|Hitoshi Ashida as diplomat in 1931]]
Ashida was born in [[Fukuchiyama, Kyoto]], the second son of politician and banker Shikanosuke Ashida.<ref>{{Cite web |title=国会会議録検索システム |url=https://kokkai.ndl.go.jp/#/detail?minId=SENTAKU%2fsyugiin%2f032%2f0512%2f03206240512002a.html |access-date=2022-03-05 |website=National Diet of Japan}}</ref> His father had been in the [[House of Representatives (Japan)|House of Representatives]] and served as director of Nōkō Bank. His grandfather was landed magnate and village headman (''[[nanushi]]'') Jizaemon Ashida.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Record of members of the Kyoto Prefectural Assembly 京都府議会歴代議員録 |publisher=京都府議会 |others=京都府議会事務局 |year=1961 |pages=889–890}}</ref>

He studied French civil law at [[Tokyo Imperial University]]. After graduation, he worked in the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan)|Ministry of Foreign Affairs]] for twenty years.

==Political career==
In 1932, Ashida ran his first successful campaign for a seat in the [[House of Representatives (Japan)|House of Representatives]] as a member of the [[Seiyūkai Party]]. He sided with [[Ichirō Hatoyama]]'s "orthodox" wing following the Seiyukai's split in 1939.

After the war, Ashida won a seat in the new Diet as a member of the [[Liberal Party (Japan, 1945)|Liberal Party]], from which he split to merge with [[Kijūrō Shidehara]]'s [[Progressive Party (Japan)|Progressive Party]] to form the [[Democratic Party (Japan, 1947)|Democratic Party]]. Ashida was elected president of the new party, and became minister of foreign affairs in 1947 under Socialist prime minister [[Tetsu Katayama]].

He also chaired the Committee on the Bill for Revision of the Imperial Constitution, and served as the chairman of the [[Kenpō Fukyū Kai]], a society created to promote the revised [[Constitution of Japan]], from 1946 to 1948.<ref>{{cite web|title=Alfred Hussey, Memorandum on Program for Publicizing the new Japanese Constitution, February 5, 1947|url=http://www.ndl.go.jp/constitution/e/shiryo/05/002_37shoshi.html|work=Birth of the Japanese Constitution|publisher=National Diet Library of Japan|access-date=24 May 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The Constitution of Japan (The Official Gazettes, a Special Edition)
|url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/2926/#q=Hitoshi+Ashida&qla=en|publisher=World Digital Library|access-date=24 May 2013}}</ref> During his term, he made a key amendment to Article Nine of the planned Japanese Constitution, which enabled the creation of the [[Japanese Self-Defense Force]].<ref name="Sasaki2012">{{cite book|author=Fumiko Sasaki|title=Nationalism, Political Realism and Democracy in Japan: The thought of Masao Maruyama|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B8iqxR758vMC&pg=PA34|access-date=24 May 2013|date=26 July 2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-31378-3|page=136}}</ref>

==Premiership (1948)==
{{seealso|Ashida Cabinet}}
[[File:Hitoshi Ashida - Golda Meir - Kuniyoshi Negishi 1958.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Hitoshi Ashida (L) during a visit to Israel in 1958, with [[Golda Meir]] and the Japanese Ambassador to Israel, Kuniyoshi Negishi]]
Ashida became prime minister in 1948, leading a [[coalition government]] of Democratic and Socialist members. His tenure ended just seven months after it began. Two of his cabinet ministers were accused of corruption in the Showa Electric scandal, which forced the cabinet to resign.<ref name="Kōno1997">{{cite book|author=Masaru Kōno|title=Japan's postwar party politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tMiolfyjtw8C&pg=PA64|access-date=24 May 2013|year=1997|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-01596-5|page=64}}</ref> One of them was [[Takeo Kurusu]], a state minister without a portfolio.<ref>{{cite book|author=Richard H. Mitchell|title=Political Bribery in Japan|date=1996|pages=102–103|publisher=University of Hawaii University|doi=10.1515/9780824863968 |isbn=9780824863968
|url=https://doi.org/10.1515/9780824863968}}</ref>

Ashida's government was hampered by taking over at the end of the fiscal year. The country operated on a temporary budget until a budget was passed in July.{{sfn|Cole|Totten|Uyehara|1966|pp=154}}

==Later life==
After his tenure as prime minister, Ashida focused on Japan's position in Asia and re-armament. He became outspoken in support of creating a national defense force after the outbreak of the [[Korean War]], fearing that a similar conflict may occur in Japan. Ashida also promoted the idea of forming a Japanese group of volunteers to fight alongside [[United Nations Command]] in support of the [[Republic of Korea]]. In 1951, he gave speaking tours across Japan advocating for his interpretation of Article 9, stating that it does not impose restrictions on Japan preparing a force for defensive purposes.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hajimu |first=Masuda |date=July 2012 |title=Fear of World War III: Social Politics of Japan's Rearmament and Peace Movements, 1950–3 |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022009412441650 |journal=Journal of Contemporary History |language=en |volume=47 |issue=3 |pages=551–571 |doi=10.1177/0022009412441650 |s2cid=154135817 |issn=0022-0094}}</ref>

In 1958, Ashida was cleared of all charges in relation to corruption allegations. He died a year later at the age of seventy-one.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Works cited==
*{{cite book|last1=Cole |first=Allan |last2=Totten |first2=George |last3=Uyehara |first3=Cecil |title=Socialist Parties In Postwar Japan |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |year=1966}}

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline|Hitoshi Ashida}}

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{{Prime Ministers of Japan}}
{{Japanese foreign ministers}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashida, Hitoshi}}
[[Category:1887 births]]
[[Category:1959 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century prime ministers of Japan]]
[[Category:Deputy prime ministers of Japan]]
[[Category:Ministers for foreign affairs of Japan]]
[[Category:Liberal Party (Japan, 1945) politicians]]
[[Category:Democratic Party (Japan, 1947) politicians]]
[[Category:National Democratic Party (Japan) politicians]]
[[Category:Kaishintō politicians]]
[[Category:Democratic Party (Japan, 1954) politicians]]
[[Category:Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) politicians]]
[[Category:People from Fukuchiyama, Kyoto]]
[[Category:Politicians from Kyoto Prefecture]]
[[Category:Rikken Seiyūkai politicians]]