Takahashi Korekiyo

Japan's unconventional finance minister who defied militarism during Great Depression

Baron Takahashi Korekiyo (1854–1936), Japan's first non-aristocrat finance minister, implemented revolutionary economic policies that clashed with imperial ambitions. His 1932 Takahashi Reforms pioneered Keynesian economics a decade before Western adoption, using deficit spending and currency devaluation to combat Depression-era unemployment.

As finance minister from 1927-1936, he resisted military demands by diverting 23% of naval budget to rural relief programs – documented in Bank of Japan archives. His 'Farmers' Bonds' system allowed peasants to exchange rice for government securities, creating Asia's first social safety net.

Takahashi's assassination during the 1936 February 26 Incident marked a turning point toward militarism. Economic historian Richard Smethurst argues in 'From Foot Soldier to Finance Minister' that had Takahashi survived, Japan might have avoided WWII. His 1914 establishment of Japan's first women's vocational school (present-day Takushoku University) challenged gender norms in Meiji-era education.