Shibusawa Eiichi

The gentleman replacing Fukuzawa Yukichi on the new ¥10,000 banknote played a prominent role in establishing modern Japan. His name is Shibusawa Eiichi, and he remains legendary in Japanese economic circles.

Abandoned his responsibility to succeed to his father’s position as family head, Shibusawa went to Edo to involve himself in national politics. As a retainer of a half-brother of the shogun, he accompanied a government entourage to the Paris Exposition in 1867. While he was in France, he visited dockyards, factories, mills, iron foundries, banks, and social events. He saw clearly that the source of wealth and power of any country lay in its economic and technological development.

In Europe he made several shrewd observations. First, European businessmen enjoyed favorable social status and respect, unlike Japan’s merchants (shonin). Second, Europeans owned and operated their own enterprises in cooperation with others. Third, stock exchanges and banks worked to support business.

After returning to Japan, he served in the Finance Ministry, where he contributed to policy making to reform taxes, survey natural resources, and establish the national treasury.

Retiring from government service, he became active in the business world, coining the term “jitsugyoka,” entrepreneur. Cooperating in forming the First National Bank of Japan, he educated bankers. Shibusawa played a key role in establishing the government-operated Tomioka silk-reeling mill.

It is said that he helped organize several hundred enterprises, from the manufacture of paper and cement to the operation of railways and insurance companies. Not only did he help form Japan’s first Chamber of Commerce and the Tokyo Stock Exchange, but he contributed significantly to the country’s first commercial high school, which later became Hitotsubashi University. Above all, he promoted the national good and stressed the ethics of honesty, cooperative spirit, and social responsibility.

(292 words)

Another version of this story with Japanese translation can be found on pages 120-121 of "Introducing 100 Impressive Japanese."