Jirō Shirasu

was a Japanese businessman and official. He was a confidant of Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida and served as a liaison between Japanese cabinet and the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers during the American occupation of Japan.

Early life and education (1902–1928) Jirō Shirasu was born in Ashiya in Hyogo Prefecture, on 17 February 1902, the second son of Bunpei Shirasu, a wealthy businessman. Jirō's paternal grandfather Taizō was a prominent samurai of the Sanda Domain who had supported the Meiji Restoration, later becoming a businessman and briefly president of the Yokohama Specie Bank. Taizō had been involved in the founding of the precursor of Kobe College. American teachers at the school often boarded with the Shirasu household, and Jirō Shirasu learnt English from them at a young age.

Shirasu attended Hyogo Prefectural Kobe High School and graduated in 1921. Afterwards he went to England to further his studies at Cambridge University at the urging of his father. By his own account, Shirasu was a troublemaker in his youth and him studying abroad had been arranged by his father as a form of "exile." At that time, he is said to have said, "Although we were defeated in war, we didn’t become slaves."

He was promoted to deputy chief of the Central Liaison Office in March 1946. After Yoshida had become prime minister, Shirasu was concurrently appointed deputy director-general of the Economic Stabilization Board in December 1946. He left all public positions when Yoshida Cabinet ended in May 1947. After Yoshida returned to the premiership, he appointed Shirasu became director-general of the Board of Trade in December 1948. He advocated the merger of the Board with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, forming the Ministry of International Trade and Industry in May 1949. He thereby relinquished his position.

Shirasu was chosen as the first chairman of the Tohoku Electric Power Company in May 1951.

Later life (1954–1985)

Shirasu served as chairman of the Tohoku Electric Power Company until 1959. He was afterward involved in a number of other business activities while continuing to live at Buaisō.

Jirō Shirasu died on 28 November 1985, at the age of 83.

In the post-war era, his wife Masako Shirasu had become a collector and expert of fine Japanese art, on which she published a number of books. She died in 1998 and three years later their house Buaisō became a museum.

Shirasu was the subject of an NHK drama in 2009.