Count Katō Takaaki (Japanese: 加藤 高明, Kyujitai: 加藤󠄁 高明󠄁; born Hattori Sōkichi [服部 総吉]; 3 January 1860 – 28 January 1926), also known as Katō Kōmei, was a Japanese politician, diplomat, and Prime Minister of Japan from 1924 until his death on 28 January 1926, during the period which historians have called "Taishō Democracy".
As Minister for Foreign Affairs, he negotiated the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, and presented China with the Twenty-One Demands, which demanded greater Japanese control of China. He was a key figure in the campaign for universal male suffrage in Japan. He has been characterized as a liberal.
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Early life
Katō was born as Hattori Sokichi, the second son of a former samurai retainer of the Owari Tokugawa domain in Nagoya, Owari Province, in the town of Saya, Ama District in what is now part of the city of Aisai, Aichi Prefecture. He was adopted by Katō Bunhei at the age of 13, and attended the University of Tokyo, from which he graduated at the top of his class from the Law Department in 1881, specializing in English common law. After graduation, he worked as an employee of Mitsubishi zaibatsu, and was sent to London for two years. On his return to Japan in 1885, he became an assistant manager at the Mitsubishi head office in Marunouchi, Tokyo. In 1886, he married Haruji, the eldest daughter of Iwasaki Yatarō, the president of Mitsubishi.