Background
Yamamoto Jotaro was born on October 11, 1867 in Echizen, Fukui Prefecture, Japan. He was the eldest son of Joetsu Yamamoto, a samurai of the Fukui clan.
条太郎 山本
Yamamoto Jotaro was born on October 11, 1867 in Echizen, Fukui Prefecture, Japan. He was the eldest son of Joetsu Yamamoto, a samurai of the Fukui clan.
Yamamoto attended (but did not graduate) the Kaisei Academy.
Jotaro Yamamoto began his career in 1882 with the firm of Mitsui Bussan (Mitsu & Company), which was heavily involved in foreign trade, and rose rapidly through the corporate ranks, becoming a Director of Mitsui by 1909. He resigned from the post in 1914 accused of his involvement in the Siemens scandal between several high-ranking members of the Imperial Japanese Navy, Mitsui, and the German industrial conglomerate Siemens AG. He was granted an amnesty in 1916.
After Yamamoto resigned, he became an entrepreneur, and started several companies. He also turned his attention to politics, and ran for the House of Representatives of Japan under the Rikken Seiyukai political party in 1920. He was reelected five consecutive times.
From 1927 to 1929, under the sponsorship of Prime Minister Tanaka Giichi, Yamamoto was made Chairman of the semi-governmental South Manchurian Railway Company, presiding over a period of successful expansion for the company. In 1935 he was elected to House of Peers. As a senior of Seiyukai Party rendered distinguished services to financial circles as director of several companies.
Yamamoto was also known as a master of the Japanese tea ceremony, a pursuit to which he devoted his retirement years. His grave is at the Tama Cemetery in Fuchu, Tokyo.