Takaaki Kato, the president of the opposition party Kensei-kai, received an unknown donation of 50,000 yen from Nobuya Uchida, a shipping businessman, and wrote a receipt saying “I have received five curios. However, the suspicion deepened.
At the time, there were two major political parties, the ruling party Rikken Seiyukai President Hara Takashi and the opposition party Kensei Kai President Kato Takaaki. The election was held in February 1920 and was announced in March. In April, at the beginning of the election campaign. In April, early in the election campaign, Kato received 50,000 yen in campaign funds from Uchida Shinya, a shipping agent. Shinya Uchida was the president of Uchida Steamship Co. and one of the three major shipowners.
On March 15, Uichiro Hirooka, Secretary General of the ruling party Seiyuukai, exposed Kato’s statement to Uchida that “I will comply with the condition” and “I will receive five rare items” which means 50,000 yen. In an attempt to clear his suspicions, Kato decided to publish the letter from Uchida. The letter did not say that Uchida did not support universal suffrage, but it did say, “I will not support people like Ozaki and Shimada, whom I dislike, but I will try my best to support healthy people of your direct lineage. This was taken to mean that Yukio Ozaki and Saburo Shimada were strong advocates of universal suffrage, and in effect, that they did not support universal suffrage.
He later served as Minister of Railways in the cabinet of Keisuke Okada, who resigned after the 226 Incident, Minister of Agriculture and Commerce in the cabinet of Hideki Tojo, and Minister of Agriculture and Forestry in the fifth Yoshida cabinet after the war.
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