Keita Gotō

was a Japanese businessman, politician and educator, who built the Tokyu Group into one of the leading corporate groups in Japan. He briefly served as Minister of Transportation and Communications in 1944. Prior to his business career, he worked as a government official in the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Transport. He founded the Tōyoko Commercial Girls' School and the Gotō Ikueikai. He is also the founder of Toei.

Biography

Early life and career Gotō was born as Keita Kobayashi on 18 April 1882, in the village of Tonodo in Chiisagata, Nagano Prefecture (present-day Tonodo, Aoki, Nagano Prefecture), the second son of Kobayashi Kikuemon and his wife Toshie. He attended Aoki Normal Elementary School and Urazato Upper Elementary School.

After graduating from Matsumoto High School, he worked as a substitute teacher at Aoki Elementary School through the recommendation of his former teacher Kobayashi Naojirō. In 1902, he entered Tokyo Higher Normal School, what is now the University of Tsukuba. After graduating, he briefly worked as an English teacher at Mie Prefectural Yokkaichi Commercial School in 1906. In 1907, he entered the law department of the Tokyo Imperial University. After graduating, he entered the Ministry of Agriculture, beginning a career as a government official in 1911,

Art collection In his later years, Gotō was a noted collector of Japanese and Asian art. His collection included several National Treasures, including calligraphy, ceramics, and one of the four surviving 13th-century Tale of Genji illustrated handscrolls. The collection is now preserved in the Gotoh Museum in Tokyo.