32 Facts About Bukichi Miki

Bukichi Miki was a close friend and ally of Ichiro Hatoyama, and was the key figure in carrying out the "conservative merger" that resulted in the formation of the Liberal Democratic Party.

Bukichi Miki was born in Takamatsu, then in Ehime Prefecture but now in Kagawa Prefecture, as the first son of Komon Miki, an antiques dealer.

Bukichi Miki's family was not related to that of Takeo Miki.

Bukichi Miki transferred to Doshisha Secondary in Kyoto, now Doshisha Junior and Senior High School, but was expelled again for getting into a fight.

Bukichi Miki went to Tokyo with the help of the politician Tooru Hoshi but on 21 June 1901, the day on which Miki would go to work as a live-in student at his law office, Hoshi was assassinated.

Bukichi Miki was admitted into Tokyo Vocational School, called Waseda University from 1902 and on, where he counted among his classmates future politicians Ryutaro Nagai and Ikuo Oyama and baseball player Shin Hashido.

Bukichi Miki worked for a brief time as a scribe at Waseda University Library.

In 1913, Bukichi Miki was elected to the Ushigome ward assembly.

Bukichi Miki distinguished himself in his new role as a member of the House.

Bukichi Miki caught the eye of Osachi Hamaguchi following his spirited debate with Home Minister Takejiro Tokonami in defense of universal suffrage.

In 1920, Bukichi Miki toured Siberia for one month as a member of a committee of inquiry for the Imperial Diet concerning the Siberian expedition.

However, Bukichi Miki was disheartened when the manuscript was rejected by Kato and Hamaguchi who advised him to focus on internal matters for fear his revelations about the origins of the war would damage Japan's international reputation.

In June 1922, Bukichi Miki was elected to the Tokyo City Council.

Bukichi Miki formed the Shisei Kakushin Domei which emphasized cleaning up city politics and clashed with the Rikken Seiyukai-aligned Shinkokai.

In January 1924, at the young age of 39 and after having served only two terms in the House, Bukichi Miki was promoted to the post of Kenseikai Secretary General and led the party in the general election of May 1924.

When Hamaguchi Osachi, who Bukichi Miki had looked up to for a long time, took office as Finance Minister, Bukichi Miki was appointed the Ministry's parliamentary councillor under Hamaguchi's tutelage.

Bukichi Miki returned to politics in 1942, winning election as an independent candidate in that year's general election.

At that time, Hatoyama and Bukichi Miki made a pact to form a government one day, with Hatoyama as prime minister and Bukichi Miki as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The party leadership was furious, some even demanding Yoshida's removal from the party presidency, but Bukichi Miki managed to calm them down by pointing out that if they withdrew their support from Yoshida, then power would likely pass to the Socialist Party.

On 24 June 1951, when the ban on holding office was lifted for those purged, Bukichi Miki began seeking to have Prime Minister Yoshida removed in cooperation with Ichiro Kono and Hatoyama.

Bukichi Miki changed course in favor of undermining Yoshida from within the Liberal Party.

Bukichi Miki was appointed Masutani's successor in the party's Executive Council.

Bukichi Miki discussed the matter behind closed doors with the leader of the Rightist Socialist Party, Inejiro Asanuma.

Bukichi Miki brought Takeo Bukichi Miki together with Tadao Oasa and Kenzo Matsumura, who were veteran politicians from before the war, and reached an understanding with them, and even arranged for Hirokawa's 30-man faction to abstain from the vote.

Bukichi Miki then talked reluctant opposition parties into tabling a motion of no-confidence against the government and entered talks with Yoshida while using the motion as a bargaining chip to urge the beleaguered Prime Minister to resign.

On 13 April 1955 Bukichi Miki called upon the right-wing political parties to rally together and announced that should rivalries with the Hatoyama cabinet become an obstacle to the merger, the government was prepared to resign en masse.

At this point Bukichi Miki had been fretting over the unification of the Leftist Socialist Party with its rivals, the Rightist Socialists and had been told by his doctor that he had contracted cancer and would live no more than three years.

The party had been formed while leaving the most vexatious conflicts unresolved, and Bukichi Miki is well known for his assessment that it "would be lucky to last two or three years".

Bukichi Miki was bedridden from April 1956, and his condition gradually worsened.

Bukichi Miki even owes more than one year's worth of debt to the rice merchant.

Bukichi Miki kept his five mistresses up to his death, who lived with him and cared for his wife Kaneko.

Bukichi Miki proposed Shinji Sogo, who had a long career as a bureaucrat in the pre-war Japanese Government Railways, to fill his shoes, and met him personally to persuade him.