Kazuo Hatoyama
Kazuo Hatoyama was a Japanese lawyer and politician who served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1896 to 1897. He was the patriarch of the prominent Hatoyama family, father of Prime Minister Ichiro Hatoyama, great-grandfather of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.
Early life and education
Hatoyama was born to a samurai family of the Katsuyama clan in present-day Minato, Tokyo.He graduated from Tokyo Kaisei School in 1875. He was selected for a government-sponsored study abroad program and attended Columbia University and Yale University Law School.
Career
When he returned to Tokyo in 1880, Hatoyama opened a law practice, while lecturing at the University of Tokyo, which was formed in 1877 by merging his old school and two other institutions.He thereafter joined the Rikken Kaishintō political party founded by Ōkuma Shigenobu and became active in politics. In 1890, at Okuma's urging, he was appointed president of the Tokyo Semmon Gakko, which later became Waseda University. He headed this institution until 1907, although his title was largely honorary in nature. In 1901, he was invited to Yale for its 200th anniversary celebration, and awarded an honorary doctorate in law.
He was elected to the House of Representatives in the 1892 general election and was re-elected eight times thereafter. He became House Speaker in 1896. However, a rift developed between Hatoyama and Okuma. Although Hatoyama angled to become foreign minister in Okuma's first cabinet, he was passed over for the post and only served as Vice Minister in 1898. In April 1907, he was removed from his post at Waseda and demoted to board member status. He left the Rikken Kaishinto in January 1908 to join the rival Rikken Seiyukai party.
He was elected to the Tokyo City Assembly in 1908. In 1910, he was elected President of the Tokyo Bar Association.