10 Facts About Toshihiro Kennoki

Toshihiro Kennoki is credited for having been one of the central figures who helped drive the Central Council for Education.

Toshihiro Kennoki was interested in the field of primary education and education reform in general, and held the positions of Director of the Higher Education and Science Bureau within the Ministry and Vice Minister of Education.

Toshihiro Kennoki resigned as vice minister in early 1951 to run for Governor of Fukuoka Prefecture, but was defeated.

Toshihiro Kennoki was elected to the House of Councilors in 1953 with the goal of promoting education reform within the LDP.

Toshihiro Kennoki was among a wave of more progressively-minded members of the National Diet, along with later Minister of Education Michita Sakata, that wanted to prioritize "policy over politics" when it came to education.

Right around the beginning of 1967,20 years after the post-war Japanese education system was introduced, Toshihiro Kennoki was chosen as Minister of Education to try and reevaluate the educational system.

Toshihiro Kennoki had, beforehand, criticized the American system being imposed on Japan, describing it as a "trick" and blaming the education system on a conspiracy.

In July 1967, Toshihiro Kennoki requested for the Central Council for Education to look into the entire education system and provide new guidelines for it.

Toshihiro Kennoki recalled that the request was made by his own volition, and that he remembers that he only had one other LDP member look over it.

In October 1967, Toshihiro Kennoki declared a militant strike by Nikkyoso over low wages imposed by the Sato government to be illegal, stating that he would only meet with the striking teachers if they renounced their Code of Ethics and did not use force to try and influence government policy.