Kōtarō Tanaka (judge)
Kōtarō Tanaka (; 25 October 1890 – 1 March 1974) was a Japanese jurist, professor of law and politician who served as the last Minister of Education of the Empire of Japan and the second postwar Chief Justice of Japan. Early life Tanaka was born in Kagoshima, the eldest son of judge Tanaka Hideo, who had been born in Takeo, Saga, in the present-day Saga Prefecture. After completing secondary school in Niigata, he completed high school in Fukuoka and went on to the Imperial Naval Academy. In 1914, he enrolled at Tokyo Imperial University and passed the advanced civil service examinations. He graduated the following year with honours, and was awarded a silver watch from the Taisho Emperor. He then worked at the Home Ministry until 1917, when he was appointed an assistant professor at Tokyo Imperial University. Following studies in Europe and the United States, he was promoted to full professor of commercial law at the university in 1923. The following year, he married Matsumoto Mineko, a devout Catholic who converted him to Catholicism. He was baptized in April 1926 by Fr. William Hoffman, the first president of Sophia University. Subsequently, Tanaka endeavoured to discover positive meanings in national