Shigeaki Ikeda - Life and Career

Life and Career

Ikeda was born in the feudal domain (han) of Yonezawa in 1867, the son of samurai Ikeda Nariaki. He studied at, and graduated from, both Keio University and Harvard University, after which he began working at Mitsui Bank, later marrying the daughter of director Nakamigawa Hirojirō.

He became director of the bank in 1909, and held that position until 1933; four years later he became governor of the Bank of Japan and Minister of Finance, serving in the cabinet of Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe until 1939.

On 5 December 1938, along with the prime minister, Foreign Minister Hachirō Arita, Army Minister Seishirō Itagaki, and Navy Minister Mitsumasa Yonai, Ikeda took part in the Five Ministers' Conference, a secret meeting of the highest officials in the Japanese government, to discuss the government's position on world Jewry. While the Foreign Minister and others were opposed to any formal involvement with the Jewish people, on the basis of their uncontrollable nature and devious schemes as detailed in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and the threat they posed according to Nazi ideology, Ikeda, along with Army Minister Itagaki, argued that a population of Jews would be a great asset to Japan, attracting foreign capital and improving world opinion towards Japan. The meeting ultimately proved a crucial step in the development of the "Fugu Plan" which would bring several thousand Jews to the Empire of Japan, from Nazi-controlled Europe.

Ikeda became a member of the Privy Council in 1941, and was banned from engaging in political activity as a result, following the end of World War II.