Makihara Satoru

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

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

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

Having received a scholarship from Iwasaki Hisaya [ja], 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 Makihara 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]

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) by USS Grenadier near the Danjo islands [ja; de] to the west of Kyūshū, with 800 deaths including Makihara.^[2] Many colleagues contributed to a book of reminiscences.^[9]

His wife and son were allowed to live in the Kokubunji villa of Iwasaki Hikoyata [ja], eldest son of Hisaya, partly also helped by the fact that Minoru and Hikoyata's son Iwasaki Hiroya [ja] 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 [ja].^[10]