He was born in Kochi Prefecture. Having risen through the ranks of the Japanese finance ministry, he became the chairman of his party and eventually the prime minister. He tried without much success to stabilize the Japanese economy against the worldwide Great Depression, and also to bring the military under more civilian control, incurring the enmity of rightwingers. He was shot in a train station on November 14, 1930 and the wounds, though they were not severe enough to keep him from winning the February 1931 election, impacted his health.
HamaguchiOsachi (1870-1931), known as "The Lion Prime Minister," was the 27th Prime Minister of Japan.
Most galling to the militarists, however, were Hamaguchi's decision to pull Japanese troops out of China and his accession to a reduction of the Japanese Navy at the London Naval Conference of 1930.
Hamaguchi was mortally wounded, but took almost a year to die, finally passing away on August 26, 1931.
The prime minister, OsachiHamaguchi, wanted to limit government spending for the military, and in January, 1930, representatives of his government met in London and agreed with Great Britain and the United States in new limitations in naval construction.
A Rightist who was angry about the London agreements shot and severely wounded Prime Minister OsachiHamaguchi, and by the end of the year the Prime Minister was dead.
Succeeding Hamaguchi was Reijiro Wakatsuki, also of the Democratic Party, who feared more violence from the Right, especially violence aimed at him.
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