What is Hirata Tosuke?
{{Infobox Officeholder |honorific_prefix= Count |name = Hirata Tosuke <br> 平田 東助 |image = Hirata Tosuke (cropped).jpg |image_size = |office = 7th [[Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan|Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal]] |monarch = [[Emperor Taishō|Taishō]] |term_start = September 19, 1922 |term_end = March 30, 1925 |predecessor = [[Matsukata Masayoshi]] |successor = [[Hamao Arata]] |birth_date = {{birth date|1849|3|2}} |birth_place = [[Yonezawa Domain]], [[Japan]] |death_date = {{Death date and age|1925|4|14|1849|3|2}} |death_place = [[Tokyo]], Japan |death_cause = |resting_place = |nationality = Japanese |children = {{unbulleted list |[[Hirata Shodo]]<br /> |[[Noboru Hirata]] <br /> }} |relatives = {{unbulleted list |[[Masaharu Matsushita]](Grandson)<br/> |[[Hiro Matsushita]](Great-grandson)<br/> }} |known_for = |education = |occupation = Cabinet Minister, Legal Scholar }} {{family name hatnote|Hirata|lang=Japanese}} [[Count]] {{nihongo|'''Hirata Tosuke'''|平田 東助||extra= March 2, 1849 – April 14, 1925}} was a Japanese statesman and Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan, active in the [[Meiji period|Meiji]] and [[Taishō period|Taishō]] period [[Empire of Japan]]. == Biography == Hirata was born in the [[Yonezawa Domain]], [[Dewa Province]] (currently [[Yamagata Prefecture]]) as the son of a local ''[[samurai]]''. He was sent by the domain to [[Edo]] for studies, and subsequently fought in the [[Boshin War]] on the side of the [[Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei]]. After the [[Meiji Restoration]], was ordered by the domain to go to [[Tokyo]] and study at the ''Daigaku Nankō'' (predecessor of [[Tokyo Imperial University]]). After graduating, he was a student member of the [[Iwakura Mission]] of 1871 along with [[Makino Nobuaki]]. He later stayed in [[Germany]] to study at [[Heidelberg University]] (where he studied politics and [[international law]]) and [[Leipzig University]] (where he studied [[commercial law]]). He is the first Japanese with a [[doctorate]] degree. Hirata returned to Japan in