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extra=28 July 1887 – 30 May 1978 was a Japanese politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1947 to 1948. He was the first socialist to serve as Japanese prime minister, and the last non-member of the Liberal Democratic Party or its forerunners to serve until 1993.
Born in Wakayama Prefecture, Katayama graduated in law from Tokyo Imperial University in 1912. He was strongly influenced by the Christian socialism of Abe Isoo, and in the 1920s served as a legal adviser to labor organizations and socialist political parties. He helped form the Social Democratic Party in 1926, and was elected to the National Diet for the first time in 1930. In 1932, his party merged with the Shakai Taishūtō, which was dissolved in 1940. After the Pacific War, he became the secretary-general of the Japan Socialist Party. After the 1947 election, Katayama became prime minister, heading a coalition cabinet with members of the Democratic Party and National Cooperative Party. With the backing of occupation authorities, he helped implement a wide range of progressive social reforms, including the establishment of a labor ministry, but had insufficient political strength for more radical reforms such as wage and price controls, forcing him to resign in 1948. Katayama lost his Diet seat in 1949, although he remained a leading figure in his party's right wing throughout the 1950s. From 1960, he supported the newly-formed Democratic Socialist Party.
The Labour Standards Act of September 1947 introduced maternity leave for a five weekly mandatory post-natal period and prohibited dismissal of women during maternity leave and for thirty days after the end of the leave although not all workers were covered. In addition, the law provided for equal pay for equal work. The Employment Security Law of November 1947 contained authority for the government to operate a system of free public employment exchanges on a broader and more democratic basis than under the former Employment Exchange Law. It also provided for public services to the handicapped in securing employment, and outlawed labor bosses and other undemocratic forms of labor recruitment. The Child Welfare Law of December 1947 extended special protection to abused, abandoned, and neglected children, guaranteed the privacy rights of children born out of wedlock, established health-care programmes for mothers and children, provided for prenatal care, outlawed the employment of minors in dangerous occupations, and abolished the practice of indentured labour. The legislation also laid the institutional foundation for a nationwide system of childcare centres, created standards for foster parentage, and made the state responsible for setting up and supervising orphanages and other juvenile institutions.
The Law for the Elimination of Excessive Economic Concentration (passed in December 1947) provided for the dissolution of any company considered to be monopolistic, while the "law on the expulsion of Zaibatsu-affiliated controls" of January 1948 enforced the resignation of Zaibatsu board members who were related closely to Zaibatsu families, while a measure was taken to ban on holding the concurrent board posts of their affiliated companies. In addition, a government employees law was enacted, the first group of Japanese Supreme Court justices was appointed, local government and the police were reorganised, the Ministries of Home Affairs, Navy, and War were abolished, extensive revisions were made to criminal law, and progress was made on land reform.
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