Makihara Satoru

Makihara Satoru (槙原 覚) was a Japanese businessman in the period leading up to World War II.

In this Japanese name, the family name is Makihara.
Makihara Satoru
槙原 覚
Died8 May 1942
East China Sea
NationalityJapanese
OccupationIndustrialist

Early career

In 1922 he co-translated from German into Japanese the corporate management book "Die Unternehmungsformen: mit Einschluß der Genossenschaften und der Sozialisierung" by Robert Liefmann.[1]

He was a rival of Takagaki Katsujirō,[2] Mitsubishi's last president before the dissolution of the zaibatsu and first president after its reconstitution.

Arrest in London

Having received a scholarship from Iwasaki Hisaya, eldest son of Mitsubishi Corporation's founder Iwasaki Yatarō,[2] Makihara and his wife Haruko[2] went to Hampstead, London in 1927 as head of the Mitsubishi Shoji Kaisha office.[2][3] Their only child,[2] a son Minoru was born there in 1930.[2] After some time elsewhere they returned to London in 1937.[3]

On Friday 2 August 1940, Makihara and several others were arrested on suspicion of espionage, and taken to Brixton prison.[3][4][5][6] Thanks to intervention by the Japanophile (and pro-Japanese spy) Lord Sempill[7] and others, he was released a few days later, on Monday 5 August, due to "insufficient evidence".[3][8]

Return to Japan and death

Mitsubishi closed their London office in October 1940, whereupon Makihara returned to Tokyo, becoming General Manager of the company's Marine Products Division.[3]

In May 1942 he was ordered by the military to travel to Japan's colonies in southeast Asia to aid in reconstruction.[2] While en route, their ship Taiyō Maru was torpedoed on 8 May 1942 near the Danjo islands to the west of Kyūshū, with 800 deaths including Makihara.[2] Many colleagues contributed to a book of reminiscences.[9]

Family

His wife and son were allowed to live in the Kokubunji villa of Iwasaki Hikoyata, eldest son of Hisaya, partly also helped by the fact that Minoru and Hikoyata's son Iwasaki Hiroya had been friends at school.[2] The main building was requisitioned to become the headquarters of the Anglican Church in Japan, and there Minoru met Bishop Kenneth Bayer from Harvard University.[2] As Minoru had twice won the General MacArthur English Speech Contest, Bayer introduced him to St. Paul's School (Concord, New Hampshire), from where he progressed to Harvard.[2] He later went on to become president and chair of Mitsubishi,[3] and married Kikuko, daughter of Hisaya's son Iwasaki Takaya.[10]

Notes
  1. "ロバート・リーフマン原著、増地庸治郎・槙原覚共訳「企業形態論」". 鹿児島大学附属図書館　OPAC (in Japanese). Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  2. "最新日本政財界地図（７）日本の戦後と日本聖公会". www.asahi-net.or.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  3. Rudlin, Pernille (2014). The History of Mitsubishi Corporation in London: 1915 to Present Day. Routledge. p. 53. ISBN 9781135127404. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  4. "三菱商事三井物産支店長ロンドンで逮捕さる". www.lib.kobe-u.ac.jp (in Japanese). 大阪朝日新聞. 4 August 1940. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  5. "Japanese Detained Under Defence Laws In London". The Straits Times. 4 August 1940. p. 1. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  6. "Japanese roundup by British protested". Baltimore Evening Sun. 3 August 1940. p. 1. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  7. Elston, Paul (Producer); Pigott-Smith, Tim (Narrator) (2012). The Fall of Singapore: The Great Betrayal. Brave New Media for BBC2 (Television production). All3Media International. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  8. "England releases one arrested Jap". Kannapolis Daily Independent. 6 August 1940. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  9. 故槙原覚氏追悼録編纂委員会 (1943). "槙原覚君の憶出". webcatplus.nii.ac.jp (in Japanese).
  10. "槙原家". 閨閥学 －偉人たちの経歴・家族・子孫 (in Japanese). Retrieved 13 August 2019.
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