11 Facts About Harumichi Tanabe

Harumichi Tanabe was a bureaucrat and cabinet minister in early Showa period Japan.

Harumichi Tanabe graduated from the law school of Tokyo Imperial University in 1905 and received a posting to the Ministry of Communications.

Harumichi Tanabe was sent to France for studies, and returned as an expert in wireless communications.

Harumichi Tanabe rose through the ranks within the ministry, becoming Bureau Chief in 1924.

Harumichi Tanabe was drawn into politics over the debate for constitutional revision at the time of the Kiyoura administration, and denounced the privileged position of the bureaucracy.

Harumichi Tanabe resigned from his post at the time of the Kato administration.

However, conservative Minister of Justice and President of the House of Peers, Kiichiro Hiranuma thought very highly of Harumichi Tanabe, and invited him to accept a position on the board of his Kokuhonsha, a nationalist political group founded in 1924.

In 1933, Harumichi Tanabe relocated to Manchukuo, where he served as vice-chairman to the Privy Council of the Empire of Manchukuo.

Harumichi Tanabe supported the viewpoint of the Kwantung Army that private management of industries was more realistic than a completely state-controlled economy.

Harumichi Tanabe was recalled to Japan with the formation of the Hiranuma administration, and after serving for a brief period as Chief Cabinet Secretary from January to April 1939, he was appointed Minister of Communications, serving in that post from April through the end of August 1939.

In 1938, Harumichi Tanabe was appointed to a seat in the Upper House of the Diet of Japan.