After finishing school in Japan, Takasaki spent his younger days in Manchuria, and was the chairman of Manchurian Industrial Development Company.

After studying canning techniques abroad, Takasaki founded Toyo Seikan Kaisha in 1917, which has since become the largest container company in Japan and dominates the ASEAN market.

Takasaki was an elected member of the House of Representatives of Japan, the head of the Japanese delegation to Asian–African Conference, the first head of the Economic Planning Agency of MITI, the initiator of the Sino-Japanese LT Trade Agreement,[3] etc.

He served in various Cabinet positions in the 1950s, including a period as Minister of International Trade and Industry from 1958 to 1959.

This agreement opened the way for the resumption of a small amount of "friendship" trade between the two nations, an important step on the path to the normalization of relations between Japan and China.