Ichirō Hatoyama was a Japanese politician and the 52nd, 53rd and 54th Prime Minister of Japan, serving terms from 10 December 1954 through 19 March 1955, from then to 22 November 1955, and from then through 23 December 1956.
Background
Ichiro Hatoyama was born on January 1, 1883. He was born into a wealthy cosmopolitan family in Tokyo. His father Kazuo Hatoyama (1856-1911) was a Yale graduate (and Speaker of the House of Representatives) and his mother Haruko Hatoyama (1863–1938) was a famous author and the founder of Kyoritsu Women's University.
Education
He studied law at the Tokyo Imperial University.
Career
Ichirō was elected to the House of Representatives as a Rikken Seiyūkai member in 1915. He was about to become prime minister in 1946, but was barred from politics for five years by Supreme Commander Allied Powers because they thought he had co-operated with the authoritarian government in the 1930s and 1940s. He was allowed to return in 1951. As prime minister in 1955, he rebuilt diplomatic ties with the Soviet Union, and favored parole for some of the Class A war criminals who had been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Tokyo Trial.
Politics
Rikken Seiyūkai (1915-1940), Japan Liberal Party (1945-1948), Democratic Liberal Party (1948-1950), Liberal Party (1950-1953), Liberal Party-Hatoyama (1953), Liberal Party (1953), Japan Democratic Party (1954-1955).
Membership
Ichirō and some members of Hatoyama family are known as advocates of fraternity. On March 29, 1951, he was initiated as 1st degree of freemason, and on March 26, 1955, passed as 2nd degree mason, and raised as 3rd degree mason.