Naoharu Kataoka(1859-1934)
Naoharu Kataoka was born in Kochi prefecture and came to Kyoto in 1880. He came to know Hirobumi Ito (the first prime minister of Japan), and through this relationship, entered the Ministry of Home Affairs. He left government work in 1889 to establish Nippon Life Insurance Company along with Jotaro Kosei and others. He became the company's vice chairman, and for the seventeen-year period from 1903 to 1919, he served as president. He also became president of the Miyako Hotel in 1915. The hotel, which opened for business in 1890 as "Yoshimizuen," redesigned all of its rooms in western style in 1900, and following the suggestion of Kataoka and others, was reestablished asthe Miyako Hotel Co., Ltd. in 1915. While active in the Kansai business world, Naoharu Kataoka was elected to the House of Representatives in 1893. He was elected eight times, and became the Minister of Commerce and Industry in Prime Minister Kato's second cabinet and Minister of Finance in Prime Minister Wakatsuki's first cabinet.



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