Tsuzaki Naotake (津崎尚武)

Tsuzaki Naotake (津崎尚武; May 24, 1882 - August 29, 1962) was a Japanese bureaucrat and politician who served in the Japanese Diet before World War II. He was well known as a vocal proponent of Japanese emigration, both within Japan's growing empire (Manchuria, in particular) and further afield. Tsuzaki was born in Kagoshima and studied political science at the Tokyo Imperial University, graduating in 1909. He passed the Higher Civil Service Examination, joined the Ministry of Home Affairs, and served in several high-level roles with the police and general administration of Nagano Prefecture. In 1915, he resigned from government and went to the United States, where he worked for the New York Land and Building Company. He returned to Japan the following year and served as a director of Toa Sangyo Company, Ltd. (東亜産業株式会社). In 1920, he was elected to the Japanese House of Representatives, where he served as the Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Health and Welfare. Tsuzaki was a major proponent of Japanese emigration, serving as vice chairman of the Central Association of Overseas Associations (海外協會中央會), director of the Manchurian Emigration Association (満洲移住協會), director of the Central Association of Overseas Compatriots (海外同胞中央會), and vice chairman of the Greater East Asia Friendship Association (大東亜親善協會). Due to these associations and his membership in the Imperial Rule Assistance Association (the rubber stamp wartime Japanese parliament), Tsuzaki was blacklisted by the American occupation authorities until 1951, after which he unsuccessfully attempted a return to the Japanese Diet.