Ginjiro Fujiwara

2024/10/28

Image: Keio University Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Modern Japanese Studies

Ginjiro Fujiwara is known as a figure who was active in various fields, including politics and education, as well as being a business leader. His achievements include "striving to rebuild the Mitsui Zaibatsu," "his era as a Minister of State," "becoming the paper king of a lifetime," "the establishment of the Fujiwara Institute of Technology," and "the donation of the college to Keio University."

As a student of Yukichi Fukuzawa, Fujiwara received his teachings and words directly. It goes without saying that until he passed away at the age of 90 in 1960, Yukichi Fukuzawa's teachings were a great source of support and influence for him.

Fujiwara was born in 1869 in Amori Hirashiba, Nagano Prefecture, as the youngest of three sons and two daughters of Mohei Fujiwara, a large landowner. Regarding his childhood, Fujiwara stated in his book ("The Words of Yukichi Fukuzawa"), "It was a very quiet and peaceful life, and I grew up thinking that as long as humans do not live extravagantly, they will not face difficulties in life." However, after entering society, Fujiwara encountered many hardships far removed from the dreams he had as a boy, but he overcame those hardships and turned those experiences into strength.

Fujiwara, who had been an extremely hard worker since childhood, told his father that he wanted to study at a school in Tokyo, and permission was finally granted on the condition that he become a doctor. However, when he went to Tokyo and visited Umeshiro Suzuki, a senior from his hometown, Suzuki recommended that he enter Keio University, where Suzuki was studying. Zenjiro Akao, also from the same hometown and who would later become a successful trader, also recommended that he enter Keio University. Therefore, Fujiwara gave up on becoming a doctor and entered Keio University. In later years, Suzuki established a non-profit medical clinic for low-income earners and played a pioneering role in the movement to socialize medical care.

After graduating from the Juku, Fujiwara was recommended by Kinryo Ito of the Jiji Shimpo in 1890 and took a job as editor-in-chief at the Matsue Nippo in Shimane Prefecture. However, the management situation was disastrous, and in 1893, he was forced to also serve as president. "There is nothing as painful and difficult in the world as poverty. I was made to feel deeply that the world is by no means as carefree or sweet as I had thought when I was a child. The experience and self-reflection at this time became a truly good medicine for my life," he later said in contrast, following the aforementioned recollection.

In 1895, Fujiwara moved to Mitsui Bank. Mitsui Bank was in a period where restructuring was necessary. Hikojiro Nakamigawa, a nephew of Yukichi Fukuzawa, was tasked with reforming Mitsui Bank, which was in a management crisis, and at that time, he invited many people from the Juku. The invited members included Eiji Asabuki and Seihin Ikeda, who have already been introduced in this column, as well as Raita Fujiyama and Hitosuke Hibi, who later became famous in the business world. Fujiwara was also invited as one of them.

It is said that the person who reached out to Fujiwara was Umeshiro Suzuki, the same senior from his hometown who had prompted him to enter Keio. Fujiwara left the Matsue Nippo and joined Mitsui Bank, where he experienced all aspects of banking for one year at the Otsu branch in Shiga. Then, as the head of the Fukagawa branch in Tokyo, he expanded the bank by coming up with various new ideas.

Due to this performance, Fujiwara was entrusted with a new major task. In 1897, Fujiwara became the manager of the Tomioka Silk Mill, where he worked to resolve the dissatisfaction of the mill workers, eliminate inequality, and rebuild the management. Furthermore, in 1911, he became the managing director of Oji Paper and set about restructuring its failing management. Despite many hardships, Fujiwara overcame management crises through various reforms. In 1933, he realized the merger of three companies—Oji Paper, Fuji Paper, and Karafuto Kogyo—and Oji Paper became a giant paper-making enterprise occupying the majority of paper and pulp production in Japan. Fujiwara achieved the reconstruction as the president of this new Oji Paper, was called the "Paper King," and established an unshakeable position as a manager.

At the end of 1938, Fujiwara stepped down as president of Oji Paper. Fujiwara, who had become a member of the House of Peers in 1929, served as Minister of Commerce and Industry in the Yonai Cabinet, Minister of State in the Tojo Cabinet, and Minister of Munitions in the Koiso Cabinet to rebuild economic policy.

On the other hand, Fujiwara established the Fujiwara Institute of Technology in 1939 as an educational institution aimed at human resource development. It is said that Fujiwara donated the majority of his private fortune for the establishment of the college. Fujiwara stated the reason as follows:

"I have reached the age of seventy, the merger of the three companies has been completed without a hitch, and the huge debt of 300 million yen that Oji Paper carried due to the merger has been settled for the time being under my responsibility. Since then, Oji's management has progressed smoothly, the shareholders are happy, the paper industry has stabilized, and although it is strange to say so myself, I have achieved success in the business world. From now on, I have long desired to devote all my strength to another field that will be useful to the nation.", "I have no children. Even if I leave a fortune, there is no joy in giving it to anyone. (Omitted) When I visited the United States a few years ago, I felt envious to learn that businesspeople there donate their fortunes to create fine universities, and even after they pass away, their intentions remain in the world and contribute to American culture. (Omitted) I decided that I too would throw away my entire fortune to establish an institute of technology and contribute to the Japanese industrial world.", "(From 'Ginjiro Fujiwara: Eighty Years of Recollection')"

This Fujiwara Institute of Technology is today's Faculty of Science and Technology of the Juku. Tomoo Maki, who was a Vice-President at the time, recalls the spring of the year before the opening as follows:

"I remember the offer at that time was as follows: 'I am over seventy, and as my future work, I will establish an institution with my own funds and, at an appropriate time, donate it entirely to Keio University. Accordingly, I would like to ask Dr. Koizumi to accept the position of president.'", "('Around the Time of the Founding of the Fujiwara Institute of Technology,' Mita-hyoron (official monthly journal published by Keio University Press), July 1960 issue)."

At that time, the opening of a faculty of engineering was a pending issue within Keio, so based on this offer and the premise that it would eventually become the Faculty of Engineering of the Juku, Fujiwara and Koizumi held many meetings. Furthermore, they coordinated Fujiwara's opinions with those of the first Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Toyotaro Tanimura. There were times when opinions clashed between Fujiwara, who had gained experience in the real world and was influenced by overseas inspections, and Tanimura, who emphasized basic education. Ultimately, they decided on the following three points as the educational policy: 'Engineering education with an emphasis on basics,' 'Liberal arts education aiming for the establishment of humanity,' and 'Language education useful for international exchange, etc.'

Regarding this, it is well known that while Fujiwara was thinking of engineering education that would be immediately useful, Tanimura and others were concerned that education that is immediately useful would quickly become useless. However, because of this, there is a tendency for Fujiwara's ideals to be trivialized.

Fujiwara spoke as follows in the special feature on the opening of the school in Mita-hyoron (official monthly journal published by Keio University Press):

"For engineers (working in factories), knowledge and talent in factory management are greatly necessary. There is no technology apart from economics. (Omitted) I therefore thought that economic knowledge should be injected into Japanese engineers. (Omitted) On the other hand, the heads of Japanese administrators have too little technical knowledge. (Omitted) Just as I recommend that engineers have economic knowledge, I would like to advise the administrative side to absorb technical knowledge.", "('The Ideals of the Fujiwara Institute of Technology')"

This is indeed a modern perspective. Fujiwara energetically inspected and compared factories and engineering education in Japan and overseas. In the United States, he noticed that educational institutions were not just for learning engineering technology, but were conscious of how to utilize what was learned in these institutions in the real world. Fujiwara had discovered from his overseas inspections, the existence of Yukichi Fukuzawa, and his own experience that from now on, success would come to those who did not end up as engineers with a single role, but who, while being engineers, were also managers, studied multiple academic fields, and combined those talents.

On July 8, 1939, the first entrance ceremony of the Fujiwara Institute of Technology was held at the Hiyoshi Campus. In his address, Fujiwara expressed his joy, saying, "I have gained 200 wonderful first grandchildren like you all," and spoke of the weight of the responsibility to raise them well.

Afterward, Japanese school education came under stronger government control during the war. Therefore, so as not to miss the opportunity, it was decided in 1943 to transfer the Fujiwara Institute of Technology to Keio University, and in the following year, 1944, it became the "Keio University Faculty of Engineering."

At this time, Fujiwara made several requests for future stable development. Among them was the following article:

"Fujiwara has no children and desires to look after the students or graduates of the Institute of Technology as if they were his own children, making them promising talents for society, and he takes this as the joy of his remaining years; therefore, Keio University shall also agree to this in advance."

This shows Fujiwara's deep feelings for the students. In fact, it is said that whenever he interacted with students of the Faculty of Engineering, he would speak with a gentle smile, saying, "These are my grandchildren, my many grandchildren."

In 1955, Fujiwara published "The Words of Yukichi Fukuzawa." Based on Fujiwara's own experience of learning directly from Yukichi Fukuzawa and his own life experience, he extracted Yukichi Fukuzawa's words and teachings and added commentary. To borrow Fujiwara's words, it was the popularization of "Yukichi Fukuzawa." In the same book, Fujiwara states, "In my sixty years of business life, I encountered many difficult and major problems, but I always recalled these words of Yukichi Fukuzawa and was generally able to handle them without error."

Let us introduce a few from the same book.

"The teacher was an extremely enthusiastic educator, but he greatly disliked sticking to a desk, becoming a bookworm, or simply swallowing the teacher's sermons whole."

"Yukichi Fukuzawa was neither an engineer nor a technician. However, Yukichi Fukuzawa was one of the very first pioneers who worked to lead the Japanese people into new fields of engineering and technology, and he would surely be greatly satisfied that Japanese industry has been able to show its achievements to the world through those who followed."

To commemorate his 90th birthday, Fujiwara established the Fujiwara Foundation of Science and created the Fujiwara Award, which continues to contribute to the promotion of science and technology today. Fujiwara ended his life at the age of 90, but "The Words of Yukichi Fukuzawa" was reprinted in 2008 under the title "Yukichi Fukuzawa: Words of Life." This book, backed by the actual feelings of Fujiwara, who studied under Yukichi Fukuzawa at the Juku and lived his life while always being conscious of Yukichi Fukuzawa's words along with fellow students close to him, will surely provide many suggestions to readers.