civilian to be appointed to that post. As Governor-General, he promoted new policies of social and political assimilation, wherein discriminatory laws in education were repealed. Several major reforms were carried out during Den's tenure, including various administrative reforms, expansion of the public education system, reduction of police involvement in local administration, construction of the Chanan Reservoir, and the legalization of Japanese-Taiwanese intermarriage. Den’s stated goal was that the Taiwanese populace was to eventually enjoy the same political rights as the Japanese in the Home Islands, and that the Taiwanese would be assimilated into normal Japanese society. Business laws were eased to allow Taiwanese entrepreneurs to complete with Japanese, and several Taiwanese-owned newspapers were established. Under his tenure, then Crown Prince Hirohito made a state visit to Taiwan. Following the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, Den was recalled to Japan, and asked to take the posts of Minister of Justice and Minister of Agriculture and Commerce in the 2nd Yamamoto Gonnohyōe administration. Together with Home Minister Gotō Shimpei, he laid the foundations for the reconstruction of Tokyo after the disaster. However, along with the rest of the cabinet, he was forced to resign in the aftermath of the Toranomon Incident. After 1925, he served as a member of the Privy Council. Den died of complications following an Intracranial hemorrhage in 1930 at his home in Setagaya, Tokyo. His grave is at the Tama Cemetery in Fuchū, Tokyo. Den kept a detailed diary from 1906 to his death in 1930, which forms an important source document for the history of politics during the Taishō period of Japanese history. Awards and decorations Japanese Peerages and titles Baron (21 September 1907) Decorations Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure (25 December 1919) Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (1 November 1920) Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers (16 November 1930; posthumous) Order of precedence Fourth rank (28 February 1898) Third rank (30 September 1916) Second rank (1 April 1930) Foreign France: Officer of the Legion d'Honneur (12 April 1894) Denmark: Commander of the Order of the Dannebrog (20 January 1897) Austria-Hungary: Knight Second Class of the Order of the Iron Crown (28 May 1897) Ottoman Empire: Order of the Medjidie, 2nd Class (26 August 1897) See also Taiwan under Japanese rule References External links National Diet Library Bio and Photo Notes 1855 births 1930 deaths Kazoku Politicians