    was a japanese politician who served as the 47th prime minister of japan from 10 march to 15 october 1948. he was a prominent figure in the immediate postwar political landscape, but was forced to resign his leadership responsibilities after a corruption scandal (shÅwa denkÅ jiken) targeting two of his cabinet ministers. == early political life == ashida was born in fukuchiyama, kyoto and studied french civil law at tokyo imperial university. after graduation, he worked in the ministry of foreign affairs for twenty years. in 1932, ashida ran his first successful campaign for a seat in the house of representatives as a member of the seiyukai party. he sided with ichirÅ hatoyama's "orthodox" wing following the seiyukai's split in 1939. after the war, ashida won a seat in the new diet as a member of the liberal party, which soon merged with kijÅ«rÅ shidehara's progressive party to form the japan democratic party. ashida was elected president of the new party, and became minister of foreign affairs in 1947 under socialist prime minister tetsu katayama. he chaired the committee on the bill for revision of the imperial constitution, and served as the chairman of the kenpÅ fukyÅ« kai, a society created to promote the revised constitution of japan, from 1946-1948.{{cite web|title=the constitution of japan (the official
1887_births 1959_deaths Foreign_ministers_of_Japan Japan_Democratic_Party_(1954)_politicians Liberal_Party_(Japan,_1945)_politicians People_acquitted_of_corruption People_from_Kyoto_Prefecture Prime_Ministers_of_Japan Rikken_SeiyA<<kai_politicians