FOREIGN MINISTER OF IMPERIAL JAPAN: KOKI HIROTA (FEBRUARY 14, 1878 TO DECEMBER 23, 1948)

On this date, December 23, 1948, Seven Japanese convicted of war crimes by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East are executed at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo, Japan. I will post information about one of the condemned convicts, Kōki Hirota from Wikipedia.

Kōki Hirota (廣田 弘毅 Hirota Kōki)

Prime Minister of Japan
In office 9 March 1936 – 2 February 1937
Monarch	Shōwa
Preceded by	Keisuke Okada
Succeeded by	Senjūrō Hayashi
Personal details
Born	14 February 1878 Chūō-ku, Fukuoka, Japan
Died	23 December 1948 (aged 70) Sugamo Prison, Japan
Political party	Independent
Alma mater	Tokyo Imperial University

Kōki Hirota (廣田 弘毅 Hirota Kōki, 14 February 1878 – 23 December 1948) was a Japanese diplomat and politician who served as the 32nd Prime Minister of Japan from 9 March 1936 to 2 February 1937. Originally his name was Jōtarō (丈太郎^?). He was executed for war crimes committed during World War II.

Early life

Hirota was born in Kaji-machi dori (鍛冶町通り) in what is now part of Chūō-ku, Fukuoka city, Fukuoka Prefecture. His father was a stonemason whose family name was Tokubei (徳平), and who was adopted into the Hirota family. Tokubei married Take (タケ), a daughter of the president of a Japanese noodle company. On 14 February 1878, the couple had a son, whom Tokubei named Jōtarō (丈太郎^?). They later had three more children. Tokubei's name is engraved on the epigraph which recognized masons who contributed to the construction of a statue of Emperor Kameyama in Azuma park (東公園) in Fukuoka city.

Hirota's writing was recognized as good from a young age; the name plate of the torii gate of Suikyo Shrine was written by Hirota when he was 11. After attending Shuyukan, he continued his education at Tokyo Imperial University and graduated with a law degree. One of his classmates was postwar Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida.

Name plate at Suikyo Shrine written by Kohki Hirota when he was 11 years old

Diplomatic career

After graduation, Hirota entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to become a career diplomat, and served in a number of overseas posts. In 1923, he became director of the Europe and America Department within the Foreign Ministry. After serving as minister to the Netherlands, he was ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1928 to 1932.

In 1933, Hirota became Foreign Minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Saitō Makoto, just after Japan withdrew from the League of Nations. He retained the position in the subsequent cabinet of Admiral Okada Keisuke.

As Foreign Minister, Hirota negotiated the purchase of the Chinese Eastern Railway in Manchuria from Russian interests. He also promulgated the Hirota Sangensoku (the Three Principles by Hirota) on 28 October 1935 as the definitive statement of Japan’s position towards China. The three principles were the establishment of a Japan–China–Manchukuo bloc, the organization of a Sino-Japanese common front against the spread of communism, and the suppression of anti-Japanese activities within China.

Prime minister

In 1936, with the radical factions within the Japanese military discredited following the 26 February Incident, Hirota was selected to replace Okada as Prime Minister of Japan. Hirota placated the military by reinstating the system by which only active-duty army or navy officers could serve in the Cabinet posts of war minister or navy minister. The military had abused this system in the past to bring down civilian governments.

In terms of foreign policy, the Anti-Comintern Pact with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy was signed during his premiership. This treaty was the predecessor to the Tripartite Pact of 1940.

Hirota's term lasted for slightly less than a year. He resigned after a disagreement with Hisaichi Terauchi, who was serving as the war minister, over a speech by Kunimatsu Hamada. Kazushige Ugaki was appointed as his successor, but was unable to form the government due to army opposition. In February 1937, Senjūrō Hayashi was appointed to replace Hirota as prime minister.

Second diplomatic career

Hirota soon returned to government service as foreign minister under Hayashi's successor, Prince Konoe Fumimaro. During his second term as foreign minister, Hirota strongly opposed the military's aggression against China, which completely undermined his efforts to create a Japan-China-Manchukuo alliance against the Soviet Union. He also spoke out repeatedly against the escalation of the Second Sino-Japanese War. The military soon tired of his criticism and forced his retirement in 1938.

In 1945, however, Hirota returned to government service to lead Japanese peace negotiations with the Soviet Union. At the time, Japan and the USSR were still under a non-aggression pact, even though the other Allied Powers had all declared war on Japan. Hirota attempted to persuade Joseph Stalin's government to stay out of the war, but he ultimately failed; the Soviet Union declared war on Japan in between the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Koki Hirota listening to his death sentence being read by Sir William Webb, 1948

Final days

Following Japan's surrender, Hirota was arrested as a Class A war criminal and brought before the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. He offered no defense and was found guilty of the following charges:

• Count 1 (waging wars of aggression, and war or wars in violation of international law)
• Count 27 (waging unprovoked war against the Republic of China)
• Count 55 (disregard for duty to prevent breaches of the laws of war)

He was sentenced to death by hanging, and was executed at Sugamo Prison. The severity of his sentence remains controversial, as Hirota was the only civilian executed as a result of the IMTFE proceedings. It is often stated that the main factor in his death sentence was the fact that he was party to information about what is now known as the Nanjing Massacre, about which he is alleged to have telegraphed to the Japanese embassy in Washington D.C. As foreign minister, Hirota received regular reports from the War Ministry about the military's atrocities, but lacked any authority over the offending military units themselves. Nonetheless, the tribunal condemned Hirota's failure to insist that the Japanese Cabinet act to put an end to the atrocities. Other possible factors in Hirota's sentence included his signing of the Tripartite Alliance, and the antipathy of China's Kuomintang government towards the Hirota Sangensoku, which they viewed as providing justification for Japan's aggression against China in the Second Sino-Japanese War (which began during Hirota's second term as Foreign Minister).

Honours

• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure (1933)
• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (1934)

Notes

1. 城山三郎1974『落日燃ゆ(新潮社)--Saboro Shiroyama 1974 Rakujitsu moyu
2. 『水鏡天満宮』福岡市中央区HP (Fukuoka city Chuo ward HP (Japanese))
3. Stephen Lyon Endicott, Diplomacy and enterprise: British China policy, 1933–1937, p. 118

4.    The Complete Transcripts of the Proceedings of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, reprinted in R. John Pritchard and Sonia Magbanua Zaide (eds.), The Tokyo War Crimes Trial, vol. 20, 49,816 (R. John Pritchard and Sonia Magbanua Zaide, eds. Garland Publishing: New York and London 1981)

INTERNET SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%8Dki_Hirota

Kōki Hirota (February 14, 1878 – December 23, 1948) was a Japanese diplomat, politician and the 32nd Prime Minister of Japan from March 9, 1936 to February 2, 1937. In terms of foreign policy, the Anti-Comintern Pact with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy was signed under his cabinet. This treaty was the predecessor to the Tripartite Pact of 1940. In 1945, however, Hirota returned to government service to lead Japanese peace negotiations with the Soviet Union. Following Japan's surrender, Hirota was arrested as a war criminal and was brought before the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. He was sentenced to death by hanging, and was executed at Sugamo Prison.

Sourced

• If you want to maintain the superiority of your state at the present time, you must quickly enter into a coalition with Germany and Italy and thus restrain Europe and create a firm foundation for imperial policy in the Far East.
• Quoted in "Japan at the Crossroads" - Page 64 - by Walter Smith - 1936.

• As you can see, I'm in good health. I have no message; just tell them, please, that I went to my death quietly and in good health.
• Quoted in "War Criminal: The Life and Death of Hirota Koki" - Page 296 - by Saburō Shiroyama - 1977.

• I am having a very difficult time. Things happen unexpectedly.
• Quoted in "The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire" - Page 49 - by John Toland - History - 2003.

• Japan cannot remain indifferent to anyone's taking action, under any pretext, which is prejudicial to the maintenance of law and order in st Asia for which she, if only in view of her geographic position, has the most vital concern.
• Quoted in "Modern Japan: A Brief History" - Page 135 - by Arthur E. Tiedemann - 1962.

• Other powers will continue to enjoy an equal right to trade in and develop the natural resources of the occupied territory, for the economic development of which the investment of foreign capital is very desirable.
• Quoted in "British Relations with China" - Page 138 - by Irving Sigmund Friedman - History - 1940.

• We have successfully built up our national strength and prestige, accepting and adding to our civilization the art and science of the West. Now, I believe, the time has come for us to carry our art and culture to other countries.
• To the Japanese Parliament on January 21, 1936. Quoted in "The Virginia quarterly review: A National Journal of Literature and Discussion" - Page 164 - by University of Virginia - 1936.

• I investigated reported Japanese atrocities committed by the Japanese Army in Nanking and elsewhere. Verbal accounts of reliable eyewitnesses and letters from individuals whose credibility is beyond question afford convincing proof that the Japanese Army behaved and is continuing to behave in a fashion reminiscent of Attila and his Huns. Not less than 300,000 Chinese civilians were slaughtered, many in cold blood.
• Quoted in "Nanking 1937: Memory and Healing" - Page 56 - by Robert Sabella, Fei Fei Li, David Liu - History - 2002.