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- 25th Prime Minister of Japan Wakatsuki Reijirō, 1866
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Baron Wakatsuki Reijirō (若槻 禮次郎, 21 March 1866 – 20 November 1949) was a Japanese politician and the 25th and 28th Prime Minister of Japan. Opposition politicians of the time derogatorily labeled him Usotsuki Reijirō, or "Reijirō the Liar".
Wakatsuki was born in Matsue, Izumo Province (present day Shimane Prefecture). His father, a samurai who served the local Matsudaira daimyō had the family name of Okamura. Wakatsuki was adopted after marriage into the family of his wife, since that family had no male heir, and only assumed the Wakatsuki name at that time. He enrolled in the Tokyo Imperial University in 1892 and studied law.
After graduation, Wakatsuki worked in the Ministry of Finance as tax bureau director and later as vice minister. In 1911 he was appointed to the House of Peers. He then served as Minister of Finance under the 3rd Katsura administration and 2nd Ōkuma administration in the early 1910s and became a leading member of the Rikken Dōshikai political party, and its successor the Kenseikai, in 1914.
In June 1924, Wakatsuki was named Home Minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Katō Takaaki, and worked to enact the Universal Manhood Suffrage Law and the Peace Preservation Law in 1925.
On 30 January 1926, on Katō's unexpected death in office, Wakatsuki took over as Prime Minister of Japan. His first term lasted to 20 April 1927 when he was forced to resign during the Shōwa financial crisis.
Wakatsuki was awarded the Order of the Paulownia Flowers on November 10, 1928. After serving as chief delegate plenipotentiary to the London Naval Conference, Wakatsuki pushed strongly for speedy ratification of the disarmament treaty, thus earning the wrath of the Japanese military and various ultranationalist groups.
After Prime Minister Hamaguchi was forced out of office by the severe injuries incurred in an assassination attempt, Wakatsuki assumed the leadership of the Rikken Minseitō, the successor to the Kenseikai. He was elevated to the rank of baron (danshaku) in the kazoku peerage system in April 1931. Wakatsuki once again became Prime Minister from 14 April 1931 to 13 December 1931. During Wakatsuki’s second term, he failed to control the Imperial Japanese Army. He was unable either to prevent the Manchurian Incident from occurring, or to rein in the Army from further escalation of hostilities in China afterwards.
After his retirement as Prime Minister, Wakatsuki became president of the Minseitō in July 1934. Despite the growing militarism in society, he continued to strongly opposed the Second Sino - Japanese War and was adamantly opposed to extending the war to include the United States and other western powers. Even after the declaration of hostilities in World War II, he publicly stated the war should end as quickly as possible. In May 1945, on hearing of the collapse of Nazi Germany, he emerged from retirement to urge Prime Minister Kantarō Suzuki to open negotiations with the United States as soon as possible. In August, he participated in the government panel recommending unconditional acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration.
After the surrender of Japan, Wakatsuki was subpoenaed by the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers in June 1946 as a prosecution witness at the The International Military Tribunal for the Far East. Wakatsuki died of Angina pectoris at his summer home in Itō, Shizuoka, on November 20, 1949. His grave is at the Somei Cemetery in downtown Tokyo.