In succession doctor, public health official and four-term Governor of Okayama Prefecture, YUKIHARU MIKI was born on May 1, 1903 in Hataayu, Makiishi-son, Mitsu-gun, Okayama-ken in southwestern Honshu, the main island of Japan. The eldest son of Torakichi and Uta Miki, he took up lodging within the precinct of a temple when he entered middle school. Remembering the tranquility he found there in "listening to the breeze over the pine trees and chanting of sutras," he still likes to hear these sounds and remains "deeply drawn to religion."

After completion of the four year course at the Prefectural First Okayama Middle School in 1922, he majored in science at the National Sixth Higher School, graduating in 1925. His father, engaged in civil engineering and construction, died when MIKI was 21 years old. Thereafter living with his mother, brother and aunt—who had a small income—the young MIKI was able by frugality and giving private lessons to continue his education. A classmate recalls him as sensitive, friendly, keenly interested in discussing state affairs, and "because he always helped, anyone in trouble usually turned to him." A hearty eater, his companions teased that he was classed 2-B in the Conscription Examination because he would consume too much of His Majesty's valuable provisions.

Needing a knowledge of administrative law in order to pursue the career he had chosen, he enrolled in May 1931 at Kyushu Imperial University in the Political Science Course of the Law and Literature Department. To support himself he worked at the Health Clinic after class, and in March 1934 he was awarded his Bachelor of Law Degree. Returning to Okayama Medical College as a physician, he served on night duty more than 200 times in one year, earning the sobriquet "night director of the hospital." Indifferent to his appearance from childhood, he also set a fashion—dubbed by fellow interns as the "Miki Style"—of wearing only a loin cloth under his long white gown. In November 1937 his Doctorate in Medicine was conferred. While his colleagues were seeking appointments to hospitals he chose to serve as Director of the Okayama Health Consultation Center of the Postal Life Insurance Bureau where he remained for six years.

In October 1944 Dr. MIKI was appointed Chief of the Sanitation Section in the Public Health Bureau of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Leaving Okayama to take up this position in Tokyo he promised friends he would come back one day when he could be of service to the prefecture. With his promotion in November 1946 to Chief of the Public Health Bureau he quickly seized upon the opportunity for which he had long prepared. Authoring Japan's first Tuberculosis Prevention Law he secured its passage through the Diet by his own efforts. In 1950 he attended the international convention of the World Health Organization at Geneva and on his way back inspected sanitary facilities in European and American cities.

The crusading public health doctor was preparing to introduce more innovations in infectious disease prevention when, early in 1951, a delegation from Okayama came to ask him to stand for election as governor of his home prefecture, then a disorganized and depressed area. MIKI at first refused. He did not have money for an election campaign and was loathe to put on others the heavy burden of collecting funds. Also, now in a position to "do some good," he was content in the Ministry; colleagues and others in Tokyo joined in a strong movement to keep him there. But his Okayama friends were insistent. They entered his name in the gubernatorial contest and, on the strength of the promise he had made in 1944 to return, he "could not let them down."

In February 1951 MIKI resigned from the Ministry. Returning to Okayama Prefecture barely one month before the election he campaigned hard and to his ''complete astonishment" defeated the incumbent by a 200,000 vote margin. His campaign fund was extremely small and when it was exhausted, instead of asking friends to raise more, he borrowed ¥200,000 (roughly US$500) from the Government Workers' Mutual Relief Association, which he repaid in installments after his success. Entirely different from other candidates, he campaigned without an entourage, usually accompanied only by his nephew. He pledged to provide conditions for a "happy life" and to develop the fishing village of Mizushima without spending prefectural funds.

Assuming office on May 3, 1951 Governor MIKI took charge of a predominantly agricultural prefecture fragmented into countless small, uneconomic farms averaging about 1.8 acres. Located some 456 miles southwest of Tokyo on the island-dotted Seto Inland Sea, Okayama was best known for its scenery. On the prefecture's northern border the Chugoku Range sloped gently to the shore. Along the coast deltas reached into the receding Inland Sea. Sheltered from heavy storms to the north by the Chugoku Range and by the Shikoku Range across the narrow sea to the south, the climate was mild and sunny the year round, with temperatures ranging around 14° to 15°C. Although one of the regions of lowest precipitation in Japan, three rivers flowing from the north—the Takahashi, Asahi and Yoshii—provided plentiful water for irrigation. The 850,000 people, mostly fishermen and farmers, had an annual per capita income among the lowest in Japan (equivalent to US$108 as compared to the national average of US$148).

Aside from small-scale production of food, pottery and the like for local consumption, there were only four industrial plants in the prefecture employing some 4,500 workers. The largest, Shin Mitsubishi Heavy Industrial, had begun operation in 1941, first producing airplanes and later medium-size three- and four-wheeled cars and trucks. Located at Mizushima near the mouth of the Takahashi River, the factory had spurred some improvement of the harbor to facilitate marine transportation (only about two meters deep, the harbor previously had barely accommodated steam-driven sailboats) and the harbor railway was laid. In 1946 Daido Concrete Co. opened a cement and concrete products plant at an interior location in Mizushima. Two years later Nihon Koyu Kogyo opened a plant at Okayama to produce vegetable oil, bean cake, fertilizer and feed, and Uraga Heavy Industries at Tamashima began producing diesel engines for ships, turbine speed reducers, etc. Since 1948, however, in a period of rapidly expanding national economic activity, Okayama had been by-passed.

After carefully appraising assets and liabilities and conducting exhaustive research on development possibilities, MIKI decided only wholesale remaking of the economy would cure the prefecture's ills. "The first job was to move some of the farm population off the farms so those left could make a decent living on larger plots. But when you move people, you have to put them somewhere and provide them with jobs. The answer was to get industry to come in and employ them."

In 1952 Governor MIKI declared his grand scheme of dredging the sea to make the sleepy fishing village of Mizushima a great deepwater port and of building a vast industrial complex on land reclaimed from the shallow foreshore. The new industrial estate eventually would cover not only the delta of the Takahashi River but also the harbor zone and its hinterland. Many ignored his proposal at first and critics jeered that he was mad. The Governor, convinced of the scheme's soundness and determined all of the prefecture's people must benefit, was not to be dissuaded. "We can achieve what we think is right," he philosophized. "In order to realize our dreams, we require only intelligence and the power of action." With these qualities MIKI proved to be well endowed.

The Governor took on himself the formidable task of selling leading industrialists on his plan. One small concrete products manufacturer began operation at Mizushima in 1954, but MIKI soon found that big industry could not be lured to a fishing hamlet, far from any established industrial area, without concrete evidence that land and other facilities would be available. "We had to show people we had faith in what we were proposing before we could expect them to share our faith."

He then took a daring gamble. Without any assurance that money would come back in the form of corporate investment, he floated bond issues. In 1954, in the shallows off Mizushima, giant dredges began sucking silt from the deepwater channel and pumping it into would-be waterfront industrial sites on both sides. Rock fill was carved by bulldozers from nearby hills. Two dams were constructed in the mountains behind the seacoast on the Takahashi River, the first for irrigation and the second to guarantee an uninterrupted daily flow of 122,500 tons of fresh water for industrial use. Schools and mobile units were established to retain farm laborers and thus insure a supply of semi-skilled workers for prospective clients. Strict zoning was instituted for industrial, residential and park areas which were linked with broad new roads. Before money began to come in substantial amounts from major clients, MIKI had spent US$55 million on the new industrial area, repaying this debt by borrowing from the National Treasury on the promise of a miracle at Mizushima.

The Governor, meanwhile, commuted on overnight trains, particularly to Tokyo, to call repeatedly on Japan's captains of industry. Hammering persuasively his theme that the country's major industrial complexes—Tokyo-Yokohama, Osaka-Kobe, Nagoya and Fukuoka —were congested and nearing saturation, he stressed his big labor pool and relative abundance of wide-open space for uncrowded, orderly industrial development. His second "buyer" was the Tamashima Company which in 1956 began production of viscose rayon yarn. In 1957 Nihon Koyu Kogyo opened a second vegetable oil plant at Mizushima, and Onada Remicon started operating a small plant in 1959.

MIKI shrewdly concentrated on the huge Mitsubishi oil complex, aware that his "blue-chip" client—50 per cent owned by Tidewater Oil—was studying 110 prospective sites for a new refinery. He figured correctly that his deepwater channel, leading off a calm sea with gentle current and eventually to have a depth of 16 meters capable of handling 100,000-ton tankers, would be a strong selling point. Negotiations took five years and more than 200 visits from the indefatigable MIKI, never with more than a gift box of manju, or bean jam bun, worth ¥300, in his hand. Finally, in 1958, Mitsubishi decided to put an oil refinery at Mizushima. "Fortunately," MIKI sighs, "the rest have been somewhat easier. . . .They reasoned that if Mitsubishi had confidence in us, we were genuine."

Nippon Mining with a refinery, Kurashiki Rayon with a rayon mill, Tokyo Steel with a small iron works, Chukogu Electric with a steam power generation plant and Nippon Gas-Chemical followed in quick succession. Daido Concrete opened a second larger plant in Mizushima in 1960. In early 1961 Asahi Asbestos came in. All of these, however, were relatively small employers. To get the big steel plant MIKI wanted took three more years and some 40 visits to the Kawasaki Steel Corporation. Kawasaki President Yataro Nichiyama also did some visiting, but without telling MIKI. Since Kawasaki would build hard by the sea, Nichiyama checked out MIKI’s claim that the Shikoku Range diverted typhoons to the northeast, craftily inspecting old houses in Mizushima for signs of new rooftiles and other repairs that would indicate past typhoon damage. When he found none, Kawasaki Steel signed in June 1961. The same month Nippon Durisol occupied a site at Mizushima.

Governor MIKI realized early that the prefecture alone could not finance the enormous cost of his development scheme. His appeals for assistance from the Japanese Government were heard with sympathy but little money was given until the government, like big industry, had seen tangible evidences of feasibility. In 1957 MIKI presented a formal Development Plan, refined over the preceding four years with the aid of an IBM computer. (Okayama until 1962 was the only one of Japan's 45 prefectures with its own computer.) Outlined in the Plan was reorientation of the prefecture's economy from agriculture to industry. The cornerstone was the deepwater part and industrial estate abuilding at Mizushima. The total cost was estimated at US$3.4 billion. Aimed at doubling the per capita income in 10 years, MIKI’s Plan preceded by two years Premier Ikeda's National Income Doubling Plan.

Though impressed by the achievements of the MIKI administration, the government's reluctance to make a major investment was not overcome until such big clients as Mitzubishi Oil had signed up. Then, in 1960, the government gave massive help. Of US$2.2 billion to be spent by 1970 on development of South Okayama Metropolis, including Mizushima, the central government agreed to supply one-third in outright grants and 52 per cent in government-backed loans. The prefecture was to pick up the remaining 15 per cent by floating bond issues and negotiating private loans—steps MIKI had already taken before government aid was forthcoming. The same percentages of participation are to apply to an additional US$1.2 billion to be spent elsewhere in the prefecture by 1970 as part of MIKI's overall development plans.

Under the Special Harbor Facilities law of 1959 Mizushima was designated as a "petroleum harbor." Further recognition of the port's new role came in June 1960 when, with 96 kilometers of water area, it was designated an "important harbor" according to Government Ordinance No. 154. From a total of 12,574 ships entering Mizushima Harbor in 1951, the number increased to 31,749 in 1961. Total import and export cargo handled grew from 722,580 tons in 1951 to 3,163,600 tons 10 years later.

By 1962 Mitzubishi Oil and Nippon Mining had invested US$30 million each in refinery facilities and planned future investments of US$500 million between them. From no oil imports in 1960, Mizushima became Japan's third largest oil port within the year after these two plants began operation. Under present plans Mizushima will become Japan's largest oil port by 1966.

Ultimately, however, steel will exceed oil in importance at Mizushima. Japan's fourth largest producer, the Kawasaki Steel Corporation, is filling in land for a giant US$850 million plant that will cover 3,200 reclaimed acres, employ 30,000 workers and produce six million tons of blister steel annually, making it the country's largest planned steel facility. The plant is scheduled to begin partial operation in 1966 and to be in full production by 1975. Already approved is a later doubling of capacity to 12 million tons to make Kawasaki's Mizushima works the world's largest by current planning standards.

Diversification also has been assured. In 1962 a petroleum chemistry plant opened and in 1963 three more manufacturers of chemical products began construction at Mizushima. The first oxygen industry started operation in January 1964. Some companies have broken their promise to build at Mizushima, but MIKI does not grumble. Instead, he optimistically asserts: "I hope they will make connection with Okayama two or three years hence."

A surplus of power is now available from the Chugoku Electric Power Co. which in 1961 completed installation of its first thermoelectric unit. Expansion plans call for production of 750,000 kw by 1967. With continuing economic development and the accompanying elevation of the living standard, the average consumption per household is expected to rise within four years from 80 to 100 kw. To meet this demand Chugoku Power contemplates completion by 1968 of four hydroelectric plants to produce a total of 326,700 kw and Okayama Prefecture is scheduled to have two hydroelectric plants producing 154,700 kw.

For service water, the prefecture draws mainly from subterranean water of the Takahashi River, now supplied at a rate of 136,386 cubic meters per day and expandable to 184,035 cubic meters. Presently underway and financed by public loans are three new waterworks also tapping this subterranean supply. Additionally, the upstream resources of the Takahashi, Asahi and Yoshii Rivers are being utilized according to an integrated plan for flood control, irrigation, industrial water and power generation. A third dam now under construction on the Takahashi River will supply one million tons of water daily when it is completed in 1967. The goal is to supply from the three rivers three million tons per day of fresh water for industry, 340,000 tons for household use and 3.4 million tons for agriculture.

At Mizushima the shipping channel is now 13 meters deep to accommodate 60,000-ton ships and will have a depth of 14 meters by the end of 1964. Shipping berths total 3,068,048 square meters. As of August 1964 the prefecture had filled in 27,781,000 square meters of tidelands for industrial sites and dredges continue to work round the clock. As presently planned the completed reclaimed area at Mizushima will total 42,883,985 square meters. Except for the portion being filled in by Kawasaki Steel, most reclamation costs are covered by loans. For a five million square meter area begun this year the first foreign loans were negotiated. Total construction costs for the area are estimated at US$44.5 million or US$8.90 per square meter.

Ultimately Governor MIKI expects the Mizushima Coastal Industrial Area alone to provide 90,000 jobs to drain away excess farm population. In the former fishing village and its environs, where 40,000 people lived in 1952, there are now 65,000 residents. By 1970 the Area's population is anticipated to reach 300,000. City planners are pushing construction of essential facilities to keep pace with this swift growth.

The prefecture to date has built 3,300 single low cost houses in and around Mizushima and plans to complete another 7,700 by 1970. Financed by National Government building funds these units are sold or rented at modest rates.

Keeping a close watch on development, Governor MIKI drives around his prefecture in a 1952 Chrysler equipped with a radiotelephone. The only governor in Japan with a phone in his car, he explains, "Things are happening so fast here that I must be in constant touch." In November 1962, when the speed of change in Okayama had captured national attention, the Emperor made one of his rare trips outside Tokyo to see what was happening and meet the man responsible. It was a proud day for the Governor and his prefecture when he escorted the Emperor and Empress through Mizushima's growing industrial complex, showed them Okayama City's new million dollar airport then nearing completion, and was able to report that per capita income in Okayama had more than tripled during his 11 years in office to US$413, compared to the national average of US$450.

Industrial output in 1963 was on target at US$1,053 million and by 1970 it is estimated to reach US$4,139 million, or 6.2 times that of 1960 and with a rate of increase more than twice that of the nation; 1.5 per cent of the national total in 1959, it is expected to be 3.4 per cent in 1970.

This achievement has meant not only higher personal income for the people, but also a sharp increase in prefectural income and in resultant expenditures for public works, education, social and labor institutes, health and sanitation, all of which have doubled or more within four years.

In MIKI's dream for Okayama, born of his romanticism, humanism and practicality, the entire prefecture was included. The great littoral district at Mizushima was the core, but development of industry, agriculture and commerce was planned from the outset on a prefecture-wide basis so that everyone could attain comfortable living. Characterizing Governor MIKI's administration is his simple philosophy: "Human happiness lies in being healthy together with one's family, having a job, being able to obtain wages for the work which enables one to lead a decent life, the work being of such a nature as to contribute to the happiness of others." While the responsibility for making good use of opportunities available ultimately rests with each individual "judicious government first must build a better society."

Okayama's Rationalized Farm System is unique in Japan. In 10 years from 1950 to 1960 the agricultural population fell from 51 to 41 per cent of the prefectural total and Governor MIKI aims for further reduction to 21 per cent by 1970. As population leaves the farm, per capita income is rising for those remaining, but for MIKI this is only the beginning. His goal is fewer farms but bigger ones that can be mechanized to raise living standards still higher. At a recent Prefectural Government meeting on development of "pleasant rural villages," Governor MIKI said: "The income of a farm family must be raised to one million yen (US$2,777.00) as quickly as possible so that people may like to come back to the farm village." He sees no contradiction between his aims to move farm population to industry and at the same time to improve and develop agriculture into "a charming industry." The Governor simply wants to strike an economic balance and have everyone prosper.

With the help of the Prefectural Government farmers are digesting modern technology at an accelerated rate. Already bullocks are disappearing from Okayama farms and being replaced by small gasoline powered hand tractors. Since experiments showed that fertilizer and sprays could compensate for the traditional transplanting of rice seedlings, some of the prefecture's fertile rice lands have become the most highly mechanized in Japan. After the ground is prepared seed is scatter sown by helicopter; with scientific application of fertilizers and spray yields are as high as from fields planted in rows.

A Prefectural Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives has succeeded in consolidating various agricultural cooperative functions, such as purchasing, sales, technical services, savings, etc., thus eliminating the need for brokers. In the area designated for vegetable production farmers receive a modest compensation for their vegetables from the Mutual Relief System in the event of poor harvest or crop failure. A uniform milk price is enforced throughout the prefecture.

Production of milk, eggs, vegetables and fruits has already reached the 1970 goal, with milk production increasing fastest at the rate of 20 per cent per year. Okayama grows all fruits cultivable in Japan except cherries, and is especially famous for the Muscat of Alexandria. Now produced in substantial quantity out-of-season as a ''greenhouse grape." this fruit is exported to ready markets in major Japanese cities. Okayama tatami grass and Mitsumata mulberry also rank first in the country. Other high quality products in demand are open-air grapes, cattle, autumn potatoes and pyrethrum chrysanthemums.

Directly affecting the agricultural patterns in the prefecture is the giant campaign the health-conscious doctor-governor has mounted through lectures, mobile unit demonstration teams and the prefecture's own radio station to improve the health and diet of both the rural and urban population. Radio stations and agricultural technicians are urging farmers to switch from traditional but disease-ridden nightsoil to chemical fertilizers. Milk and beef are among the products being promoted for a better balanced diet; a proud achievement is the tenfold increase in the prefecture's cow population. The National Health Insurance rate is the best in Japan. The MIKI administration has built 18 sewage disposal plants and plans three more this year. From 2,000 tuberculosis patients in the prefecture in 1950 the number had decreased to 400 in 1963.

The Okayama Plan also provides for upgrading of small cottage industries. Well known for its ceramics due to a high-quality clay deposit in the eastern section from which the famous Inbe pottery is made, a major effort at the Prefectural Extension Workshop has been improvement of pottery-making technique.

In keeping with the basic principle of the Okayama Development Plan—"to promote the people's welfare so that all citizens may enjoy a bright, healthy and cultural life"—the MIKI administration has set out to create the requisite conditions. An airplane view of the new industrial area shows green belts and space amidst burgeoning industry. Twenty-nine "national, natural and historic sites" will occupy a total of 2,040 hectares. Prefectural General Playgrounds were recently completed as an unemployment relief measure, a rare instance for Japan and evidence that the people are intent upon rejuvenating their prefecture. Resort hotels are being built or remodeled to accommodate 7,000 people.

At the New Prefectural Junior College of Physical Education some 50 teachers give not only instruction in sports but also guidance on "how to enjoy life." A morning class is held for mothers. At this and other schools emphasis is on "the true mission of education which consists in building such a character who can work with composure undisturbed by difficulties, not to make a man superficially clever." By 1970 a total of 23 kindergartens, 23 primary schools, 19 junior high schools, 10 senior high schools and 3 schools for the handicapped are to be in operation. One civic hall is planned for each junior high school district. Libraries and cultural institutions, including a cultural hall, museum, two open air music stands and one youth hall, have been built or are under construction.

The first "Mother's Home," constructed in Yubara District at a cost of US$33,333 now provides a facility where women with their children can enjoy a holiday; the planners reasoned that a woman accompanying her husband to a spa would have little recreation "because the husband is likely to order her around." The recently completed Prefectural Children's Hall is a luxurious building offering overnight lodging at ¥200 or US$0.55, a scientific exhibition room and planetarium. A new Home for the Aged was designed to avoid traditional defects of institutions.

Some forest land is being shifted to orchards and grasslands and in other areas afforestation and construction of roads is being carried out under forest management. The number of fishing grounds and fishermen are diminishing, while the demand for good quality fish is increasing, hence new fishing grounds are being established in the eastern sector.

The Prefectural Broadcasting Station beams useful information on such subjects as "how to beautify dwellings and stores so that life may be more comfortable" to cities, towns, villages and agricultural cooperatives from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

MIKI turned the Japanese love of sports to the prefecture's advantage in 1953 when he asked the National Athletic Association to select Okayama for the next meet. The prefecture prepared for the event for 10 years with the Governor keeping expenses as low as possible. Since success depends so much on the weather, MIKI and his colleagues went through weather records for the past 30 years before they decided on the date.

As the time drew near the watchword became, "By the National Athletic Meeting." Construction of the new Okayama Airport was stepped up by this means. The National Railways expedited electrification and just ahead of the meet completed laying tracks for electric trains. The new sports grounds, in the design of the outer garden of the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo on a minor scale, took the full 10 years to complete; they now comprise a permanent recreation area for Okayama.

In 1960 Okayama Prefecture had formulated the slogan: "Friendship, Orderliness and Service." Since then MIKI has been encouraging the people to establish a "bright" prefecture. Six movements were enunciated as a means for attaining this end: make the prefecture full of flowers; sing merrily, all joining; encourage physical training and recreation; be kind to others; sweep clean and beautify environment; do away with accidents. At the Athletic Meeting the former prefectural flag with the characters for Okayama dyed white on a green ground gave its traditional place to a new one with three colors: red for friendship, blue for orderliness and green for service.

MIKI and his colleagues constantly revise their goals upward and outward. Seriously being contemplated is the ambitious plan to dam part of the Seto Inland Sea and turn it into a great fish breeding farm. Already incorporated as an addition to the 10 year development program is the lease of an island in the Inland Sea for a children's paradise similar to Disneyland, where a bungalow village will house a natural zoo, aquarium, rope way and so on.

MIKl plainly enjoys his work to the hilt but has professed to be willing to step down. In 1962 he said, "I've been at this for nearly 12 years. It is time someone else took over. But it appears I have no choice. Everyone says it is unwise to change horses in midstream." His 1963 campaign fund was again small, but he had no fears. He had been unopposed for his second term in 1955, and in 1959 carried 95 per cent of valid votes cast. In 1963, though the Socialists hesitated to support him because of conflict in the party, the Japanese Teachers' Union announced in his favor because of his attention to children and schools; of 780,808 valid votes, MIKI received 686,591.

Referred to affectionately as "Momotaro," the Governor has a priceless asset in the resemblance the people feel he bears to this imaginary boy hero of a popular fairy tale who supposedly lived in Okayama. Momotaro embodies the ideal personality of the prefecture: he was strong, tolerant, good-natured, magnanimous and possessed of an attraction that won the hearts of everyone. The Governor reputedly posed for the statue of Momotaro which stands in front of Okayama Station; his features are said to express good fortune and, like Momotaro, his body—he is five feet four inches tall and weighs 200 pounds—face, palms, fingers and nails are round and his innocent looks are disarming. Given his personal integrity and success in governing, the opposition in vain has tried to find fault with him. Would-be political opponents admit contending against such an ideal character is futile.

The immensely popular non-smoking, teetotalling bachelor is commonly addressed by his constituents without his title, simply as "Mr. MIKI," as if he were their friend. Retiring in private life, he shares his official residence by the side of the River Asahi with his mother Yuki, now aged 79, his Aunt Sei, aged 72, one servant and three pet dogs. For "YUKI-CHAN," as she calls him, his mother finds pleasure in cooking his favorite food—boiled or roasted fish. Thoughtful and solicitous of the two elderly ladies, the Governor customarily telephones when he is away to be sure they are well.

Regarding his single state, MIKI explains that, according to Japanese custom "even back in the Welfare Ministry," he would have had to marry a woman worthy of his position. A daughter-in-law who had grown up with a different living standard than his mother, who was poor, would make his mother feel constrained, "so the time passed and I have missed the chance."

The Governor's frugality is legend. He has no personal fortune or private income, but points out that he needs little money because he has no wife or children: "I should like to get what money cannot buy—culture and mental traits." Until last year when the Prefectural Assembly overruled his objection, his official salary was ¥100,000 or US$277. For all official social and business expenses he insists upon a maximum allowance of ¥1.8 million (US$5,000) per year, whereas one mayor in Okayama Prefecture budgets ¥4.5 million for these expenditures and another ¥6 million. Among the prefectural employees he is one of those with the fewest clothes and even his mother remonstrates that he should not always appear in the same shabby, blue suit.

Strict but fair in dealing out penalty and reward, he believes warmth of heart is essential to governing. "I should like," he says, "to be a common man of warm friendship instead of being a man of unparalleled knowledge and energy." He gives his colleagues his confidence and is not suspicious of others, though he occasionally has been betrayed by those he trusted.

His administration has an enviable reputation for efficiency and esprit de corps. The modern management-oriented officialdom he has created now operates from a fine nine-storied building equipped not only with a computer but also a wireless apparatus and direct lines to Tokyo and Osaka. There is no mistaking that the building houses the Prefectural Government but, once inside, the visitor finds not bureaucratic grandiosity or dullness but a lively atmosphere charged with tension and vitality. The caller is not shunted around as though he were a troublesome interruption but, if an interview has been applied for, he is shown immediately to the person in charge. Frequently no reference is made to files in order to furnish the visitor with the information he needs for the official has the data at his finger tips. The staff is forward looking and not afraid to express their own views.

The ebullient Governor sets a fast pace, even though he suffers from abnormally high blood pressure and hypertension. In 1959 he announced abruptly, "I am going to the hospital;" it took him 40 days to recover. Later three representatives of the executive department of the Prefectural Employees Association handed him written advice not to overwork. His body, the statement read, was not his private property but the common property of the prefecture. He was requested to work until 7 p.m. on weekdays, half days on Saturdays and to do no work on Sundays. The Governor grinned: "There is no limit to my working hours because I am special service personnel."

In a normal day he is usually at the office by 7:30 and in a typical forenoon he may have 80 visitors. His memory is acute. On one occasion, to a petitioning party regarding fishing compensation in Mizushima Harbor, he said: "This is a case which broke out 10 years ago. Please recheck your materials and come again." Afternoons are taken up with meetings, conferences and inspections. Department chiefs usually meet with the Governor at 6 p.m. for what is humorously referred to as "night school."

MIKI frequently eases his bulk into a light plane to fly prospective clients over his beloved Mizushima. Okayama is now a popular location for regional and national conventions, and the Governor is regularly asked to make addresses, sometimes on subjects he relishes. At a recent General Meeting of the Japan Cancer Society, he delivered a paper on "Anti-Cancer Measures in Okayama Prefecture"—Okayama is the only prefecture where mass examination for cancer is carried out. Whenever the President of the National Railways was in the prefecture, MIKI dwelt on the existing condition of train toilets which was "detrimental to public health."

In his busy schedule the Governor has found time for three trips outside of Japan. In May 1958 he attended the 50th anniversary celebration of Japanese immigration in Brazil and visited Japanese immigrants in North and South American countries. At the same time he met with officials of those countries to encourage trade. In January 1960 he traveled to Burma as head of a Japanese mission to present a Buddhist image, stopping afterward in Thailand, Hong Kong and Okinawa, again to encourage trade. In July 1961 he inspected social security systems and social welfare facilities in Denmark, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden and the Netherlands.

The committee assignments he has accepted are few and all related directly to his activities in Okayama. In November 1960 he was appointed a member of the Social Welfare Council of the Ministry of Health and Welfare and in December 1961 became Director of the Citizen's Holiday Village Association. At the All-Japan Prefectural Governors' Association in July 1962 he was elected Vice-President and concurrently Director of the Prefectural Governors Association Hall. Since December 1962 he has been a member of the Temporary Committee of the Port and Harbor Council of the Ministry of Transportation.

Governor MIKI has had bitter experiences at least four times since he declared his master design for Okayama, and in January 1964 the intransigence of two mayors threatened the fulfillment of his plan.

In 1963 a well-studied blueprint for city planning was presented to the General Assemblies of seven core cities and 26 satellite towns and villages. Proposing their amalgamation into a multi-nucleus metropolis, the city planners aimed at establishing "healthy and comfortable towns where both nature and modern facilities could be enjoyed." The amalgamation was to permit integration of planning of such essential facilities as highways, a new national railway, fairways and sightseeing roads. I would relieve existing cities of an excessive administrative burden and help develop backward communities. Each of the core cities would have special functions; some would have a concentration of factory sites, some would be primarily residential, others serve as agricultural centers and so on. The plan seemed reasonable and the General Assemblies of the 33 entities involved passed the resolution unanimously. Later, when the Mayors of Okayama and Kurashiki cities refused to execute the resolution of their municipal assemblies, MIKI shed tears.

When he is sad or confronted by such difficulties, MIKI finds solace in the sky. "When I imagine that the stars twinkling now are the same stars that spangled the evening sky in the days of Michinaga Fujiwara (a famous statesman who lived more than 1,000 years ago), I feel my heart washed and purified and my petty troubles drown in eternity."

On January 30, 1964 the National Government overrode the two mayors, designating the Southern District of Okayama as "a new industrial city" and enabling MIKI to push through his long awaited plan.

As Governor MIKI surveys his domain and talks of the goals still to be won he confides: "Yes, it's been hard, tiring work, but the satisfactions of progress are great. I want everybody to be able to live better. That will be my reward."

August 1964
Manila

REFERENCES:

Asahi Weekly. Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha. November 16, 1962.

Conception and Structure of Setouchi Economic Circle with South Okayama Metropolis as its Nucleus. Okayama Prefecture, February 1964.

Fujin-Gaho. Tokyo. May 1963.

Gigantic Seto Bridge. Okayama Prefecture. Brochure. 1963.

Inyoji-no-tabi. Shimane-Totton-Okayama-Kagawa Sightseeing Association. Undated.

Kawasaki Steel Corporation. Brochure, including reference to projected plant at Mizushima District of Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture. Undated.

Kobayashi, Eiji. "Okayama’s Free Talk and sitter Experiences on His Sickbed," The Teishin Igaku. Tokyo. Vol. 16, no. 4, p. 57.

Miki, Yukiharu. "Hope for the Southern District of Okayama Prefecture, Appointed as a new industrial city by the Japanese Government," Sekisan Shiryo. Tokyo Keizai-Chosa-Kai. No. 5, May 1964.

Murashima, Kenichi. "New Character Sketch: Mr. Yukiharu Miki, Unique," Mitsubishi News. Tokyo. No. 17, March 1964, p. 4-9.

Plan for Developing Okayama Prefecture (With South Okayama Metropolis as its Center) Okayama Prefecture. February 1964.

"Profile No. 95, Yukiharu Miki, Governor of Okayama Prefecture, Nicknamed 'Momotaro'," Asahi Journal. Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha. Vol. 4, no. 32, October 1962.

Sato, Motojiro. "Okayama Prefecture—An Outline of Large-Scale City," Sekisan Shiryo. Tokyo: Keizai-Chosa-Kai. No. 5, May 1964.

Shukan Asahi. Tokyo. November 16, 1962.

Shukan Bunshun. Tokyo: Bungei Shunju Shinsha. November 11, 1963.

Time. New York. November 2, 1962, p. 98.

Women's Pictorial Magazine. Manila. May 1, 1964.