Shozo Tanaka Biography 33

"Idobei Seijika "(There is a term for a bankrupt politician ).
Literally, it refers a politician who has devoted so much of his assets to political activities that he was unable to create an estate or a successor(not a hereditary heir) to his person at the time of his death.
In this sense, Shozo Tanaka could be called a ”Shikujiri-Seijika"(failed-politician).
In today's Japanese society too, Most people are averse to the idea that
”politicians are dirty with money,"
but I don't completely agree.
Of course,it is out of question to use politics to make money, but unless we understand that it cost a certain amount of money to make politics work, there will never be a politician who can open the door to a new era in today's stagnant society.
Sorry, I digress.
In the mid-Meiji period, the Japan country's industrial development progressed, and the production of copper increased the means of acquiring foreign  currency, which until then had been limited to raw silk.
The copper-producing areas were source of Japan's first pollution, which Shozo Tanaka fought for with his political life.
That area was Ashio Copper Mine.