Osachi Hamaguchi

Hamaguchi Osachi (b. 1 Apr. 1870, d. 26 Aug. 1931). Prime Minister of Japan 1929–31 Prior to his political career Hamaguchi had served as an official in the Ministry of Finance. As the successor to the government of Tanaka Giichi, Hamaguchi's Minseito party administration proved unable to cope with the turbulence in domestic and international affairs. The policies of the Minister of Finance, Inoue Junnosuke, imposed austerity on the economy which deepened the ‘Shôwa Depression’. Foreign policy was equally unpopular, especially after the Foreign Minister, Shidehara Kijirô, accepted an inferior position for the Japanese navy towards the other powers in the Pacific in negotiations for the London Treaty of 1930. In the welter of domestic criticism that followed, Hamaguchi was attacked by a rightist youth and died later of his wounds. The Hamaguchi Cabinet came to be seen as having contributed greatly to the loss of support for party government in prewar Japan.

Osachi Hamaguchi , 1870-1931, Japanese statesman. He was finance minister (1924-26) and home minister (1926-27) before becoming (1927) president of the Minseito party. As prime minister (1929-30, 1931), he failed in combating economic depression. He pursued a conciliatory policy toward China and compromised with the United States in the London Naval Treaty of 1930 (see naval conferences ). These measures were unpopular with the militarists. He was shot by an ultranationalist in 1930 and died in 1931.