was a Japanese entrepreneur, politician, and business tycoon who founded a dynasty which became the wealthiest, most influential family of 20th century Japan. Tsutsumi served as the Speaker of the House of Representatives of Japan from May 1953 to December 1954, resigning at the end of the government of Shigeru Yoshida.
Early life (1889-1907) Yasujirō Tsutsumi was born on 16 March 1889 in the rural farming village of Yagisho, Shiga Prefecture. The Tsutsumi family were held in great respect and regard, serving as village elders and headmen. However, little is known about their antecedents or origins, and there is no evidence that the traditional extended family unit ever existed in their case. Yasujirō's father, Yujiro, died of typhoid fever in 1893, when Yasujirō was four, also leaving his wife, Miwo, and a daughter, Fusako, who had been born in 1891. Following his father's premature death, Yasujirō's mother left to return to her family, never to be heard from again, an event that haunted Yasujirō to the end of his days. After his mother's separation, both Yasujirō and his sister were raised by their paternal grandfather Kiyozaemon, a stern traditionalist who wished Yasujirō to take over the family lands and remain a farmer. However, Yasujirō had no such intentions. Since the Meiji Restoration, tremendous change had swept Japan, which was seeing a period of remarkable expansion and industrialisation. Though eager to be a part of this new era, he had little choice but to bide his time for the moment when he could break free.
Career
Kiyozaemon died in 1907, creating the opportunity for Yasujirō to break free. In 1909, he mortgaged the family estate for 5000 yen. With this money, he married Nishizawa Koto and had a daughter, Shukuko, in 1909, then attended Waseda University investing in rough land and businesses. At the time, however, rough land had little value and was looked upon as a foolish investment. Still, Yasujirō persisted. In 1917, he purchased of land for 30,000 yen from a village near the fashionable mountain resort of Karuizawa, and built several vacation houses and cottages. With this, he established a company, Hakone Resorts Ltd. Japan had prospered greatly during the First World War, initiating a period of prosperity and democracy the likes of which Japan had never experienced before. Yasujirō's wealth and empire expanded proportionally with this boom. Customers came, and by 1923, Hakone Resorts Ltd had a value of 20,000,000 yen.
On 1 September 1923, the Great Kantō earthquake convulsed Japan and destroyed most of Tokyo. Yasujirō's properties escaped damage, and his empire continued to spread. Around this time, Yasujirō was called upon to handle the financial affairs of one Aoyama Yoshizo, a gentleman of a patrician noble family who had gone bankrupt. Aoyama had four daughters, all extremely beautiful, and Yasujirō fell in love with them at once. He had forceful affairs with the second and youngest daughters; from those affairs, a son, Seiji Tsutsumi, was born in 1927 by the second daughter, and a daughter, Kuniko, was born by the youngest daughter in 1928. However, it was the third daughter, Misao, whom he coveted, and yet, she refused all his advances until finally, in order to preserve the family honour, she yielded to Yasujirō as a mistress.
For Aoyama, however, the damage was complete. Traumatised, he committed suicide. Yet, Yasujirō had at last found a strong woman to match himself. Misao adopted Seiji and Kuniko as her own. In the meanwhile, Yasujirō had entered politics; in 1924, he had been elected as a member of the Diet, soon becoming parliamentary vice-minister. He soon turned his attention away from Misao and sought other mistresses, especially one Ishizuka Tsuneko, the daughter of a close friend, with whom he had three sons. The first, Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, born in 1934, was destined to play a significant role later on.
War years (1937-1945) By the mid-1930s the Great Depression had set in, and militarists and nationalists were in control of the government. Yasujirō expanded his interests to railways and tramlines, eventually absorbing his competitors into Hakone Resorts Ltd. Among the competitors was a rail company called Seibu, whose name Yasujirō eventually took for his concern, eventually changing the name of Hakone Resorts Ltd. to Seibu. In the late thirties, he built an imposing mansion for himself and his family, which eventually became the official state house, and cultivated relationships with Japan's elite, among them General and Prime Minister Tojo.