Politician, Cabinet Minister and Prime Minister of Japan. He entered government service in Japan’s Ministry of Finance after graduating from the Law College of Tokyo Imperial University in1895. He was named director of the country's Monopoly Bureau in 1907, Vice Communications Minister in 1912, and Vice Finance Minister 2 years later. He entered politics in 1915, winning a seat in the lower house of the Diet; he retained that seat representing the Kochi Second District until his death in 1931. In 1924, he was named Japan's Finance Minister, serving in two administrations. He sought fiscal retrenchment through reductions of spending and government staff layoffs; these efforts met with opposition and were scaled back. In 1926, he was chosen Home Minister; in this role he continued to support actions that would draw down public consumption to help reduce the country's trade deficit. In 1927, he became chairman of the new Rikken Minseito, or Constitutional Democratic Party. In mid-1929, he was elected Prime Minister following the collapse of the previous administration. Hamaguchi and his cabinet focused on making domestic economic reforms. The country had been dealing with a burgeoning recession since the end of World War I; these economic woes were heightened following the physical and economic devastation wrought by the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923. The economic situation only worsened with the advent of the Great Depression, which began within months of the start of his administration. He began with support from the public and from Emperor Hirohito, and was able to launch fiscal austerity measures, including a reduction in military spending. However, his efforts to stimulate exports failed, which led to outcries from right-wing elements that accused him of infringing on the military's right of supreme command assured by the Meiji Constitution. He was shot and wounded in an assassination attempt in Tokyo Station on November 14, 1930, and was hospitalized for the next several months. (His would-be assassin was a member of the Aikokusha ultranationalist secret society.) Although he was re-elected the following March, Hamaguchi's waning health kept him from attending the Imperial Diet. His absence led to stonewalling by the opposition Rikken Seiyukai party on budget talks that brought him back briefly before he resigned. He died that August. Prior to his passing, his cabinet had sponsored a bill on women's suffrage that would have given women 25 and older the right to vote in local elections -- and to run for office with their husbands' approval. It passed the lower house but was voted down in the House of Peers. Women would not get the right to vote in Japan until 1946. Born with the surname Minaguchi, he took the Hamaguchi name upon marrying Natsuko Hamaguchi.