Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers
The Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers was the title held by General Douglas MacArthur during the Allied occupation of Japan following World War II. It issued SCAP Directive to the Japanese government, aiming to transform it into a non-terrorist nation. In Japan, the position was referred to as GHQ, as SCAP referred to the offices of the occupation, including a staff of several hundred U. S. civil servants as well as military personnel. Some of these personnel wrote a first draft of the Japanese Constitution, which the National Diet ratified after a few amendments. Australian, British and New Zealand forces under SCAP were organized into a sub-command known as British Commonwealth Occupation Force; these actions led MacArthur to be viewed as the new Imperial force in Japan by many Japanese political and civilian figures being considered to be the rebirth of the shōgun-style government which Japan was ruled under until the start of the Meiji Restoration. Biographer William Manchester argues that without MacArthur's leadership, Japan would not have been able to make the move from an imperial, totalitarian state, to a democracy.
At his appointment, MacArthur announced that he sought to "restore security and self-respect" to the Japanese people. One of the largest of the SCAP programs was Public Health and Welfare, headed by U. S. Army Colonel Crawford F. Sams. Working with the SCAP staff of 150, Sams directed the welfare work of the American doctors, organized new Japanese medical welfare systems along American lines; the Japanese population was physically badly worn down and medicines were scarce, sanitary systems had been bombed out in larger cities. His earliest priorities were in distributing food supplies from the U. S. Millions of refugees from the defunct overseas Empire were pouring in in bad physical shape, with a high risk of introducing smallpox and cholera; the outbreaks that did occur were localized, as emergency immunization, quarantine and delousing prevented massive epidemics. Sams, promoted to Brigadier General in 1948, worked with Japanese officials to establish vaccine laboratories, reorganize hospitals along American lines, upgrade medical and nursing schools, bring together Japanese, U.
S. teams that dealt with disasters, child care, health insurance. He set up an Institute of Public Health for educating public health workers and a National Institute of Health for research, set up statistical divisions and data collection systems. SCAP arrested 28 suspected war criminals on account of crimes against peace, but it did not conduct the Tokyo trials. President Harry Truman had negotiated Japanese surrender on the condition the Emperor would not be executed or put on trial. SCAP carried out that policy; as soon as November 26, 1945, MacArthur confirmed to admiral Mitsumasa Yonai that the emperor's abdication would not be necessary. Before the war crimes trials convened, SCAP, the IPS and Shōwa officials worked behind the scenes not only to prevent the imperial family being indicted, but to slant the testimony of the defendants to ensure that no one implicated the Emperor. High officials in court circles and the Shōwa government collaborated with Allied GHQ in compiling lists of prospective war criminals, while the individuals arrested as Class A suspects and incarcerated in Sugamo Prison solemnly vowed to protect their sovereign against any possible taint of war responsibility.
As Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, MacArthur decided not to prosecute Shiro Ishii and all members of the bacteriological research units in exchange for germ warfare data based on human experimentation. On May 6, 1947, he wrote to Washington that "additional data some statements from Ishii can be obtained by informing Japanese involved that information will be retained in intelligence channels and will not be employed as "War Crimes" evidence." The deal was concluded in 1948. According to historian Herbert Bix in Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, "MacArthur's extraordinary measures to save the Emperor from trial as a war criminal had a lasting and profoundly distorting impact on Japanese understanding of the lost war." Above the political and economic control SCAP had for the seven years following Japan's surrender, SCAP had strict control over all of the Japanese media, under the formation of the Civil Censorship Detachment of SCAP. The CCD banned a total of 31 topics from all forms of media.
These topics included: Criticism of SCAP. All Allied countries. Criticism of Allied policy pre- and post-war. Any form of imperial propaganda. Defense of war criminals. Praise of "undemocratic" forms of government, though praise of SCAP itself was permitted; the atomic bomb. Black market activities. Open discussion of allied diplomatic relations. Although some of the CCD censorship laws relaxed towards the end of SCAP, some topics, like the atomic bomb, were taboo until 1952 at the end of the occupation. MacArthur was succeeded as SCAP by General Matthew Ridgway when MacArthur was relieved by President Harry S. Truman during the Korean War in April 1951; when the Treaty of San Francisco came into effect on April 28, 1952, the post of SCAP lapsed. Bix, Herbert P.. Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-019314-0. Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-04686-1.
Kuroda Kiyotaka
Count Kuroda Kiyotaka known as Kuroda Ryōsuke, was a Japanese politician of the Meiji era. He was the second Prime Minister of Japan from April 30, 1888, to October 25, 1889. Kuroda was born to a samurai-class family serving the Shimazu daimyō of Kagoshima, Satsuma Domain, in Kyūshū. In 1862, Kuroda was involved in the Namamugi incident, in which Satsuma retainers killed a British national who refused to bow down to the daimyo's procession; this led to the Anglo-Satsuma War in 1863. After the war, he went to Edo where he studied gunnery. Returning to Satsuma, Kuroda became an active member of the Satsuma-Chōshū joint effort to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate; as a military leader in the Boshin War, he became famous for sparing the life of Enomoto Takeaki, who had stood against Kuroda's army at the Battle of Hakodate. Under the new Meiji government, Kuroda became a pioneer-diplomat to Karafuto, claimed by both Japan and the Russian Empire in 1870. Terrified of Russia's push eastward, Kuroda returned to Tokyo and advocated quick development and settlement of Japan's northern frontier.
In 1871 he traveled to Europe and the United States for five months, upon returning to Japan in 1872, he was put in charge of colonization efforts in Hokkaidō. In 1874, Kuroda was named director of the Hokkaidō Colonization Office, organized a colonist-militia scheme to settle the island with unemployed ex-samurai and retired soldiers who would serve as both farmers and as a local militia, he was promoted to lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army. Kuroda invited agricultural experts from overseas countries with a similar climate to visit Hokkaidō, to provide advice on what crops and production methods might be successful. Kuroda was dispatched as an envoy to Korea in 1875, negotiated the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876. In 1877, he was sent as part of the force to suppress the Satsuma Rebellion. In 1878, he became de facto leader of Satsuma Domain following the assassination of Ōkubo Toshimichi. Shortly before he left office in Hokkaidō, Kuroda became the central figure in the Hokkaidō Colonization Office Scandal of 1881.
As part of the government's privatization program, Kuroda attempted to sell the assets of the Hokkaidō Colonization Office to a trading consortium created by some of his former Satsuma colleagues for a nominal price. When the terms of the sale were leaked to the press, the resultant public outrage caused the sale to fall through. In 1881, Kuroda's wife died of a lung disease, but on rumors that Kuroda had killed her in a drunken rage, the body was exhumed and examined. Kuroda was cleared of charges. In 1887, Kuroda was appointed to the cabinet post of Minister of Commerce. Kuroda Kiyotaka became the 2nd Prime Minister of Japan, after Itō Hirobumi in 1888. During his term, he oversaw the promulgation of the Meiji Constitution. However, the vexing issue of Japan's inability to secure revision of the unequal treaties created considerable controversy. After drafts of proposed revisions drawn up his foreign minister Ōkuma Shigenobu became public in 1889, Kuroda was forced to resign. Kuroda served as Minister of Communications in 1892 under the 2nd Ito Cabinet.
In 1895 he became a genrō, chairman of the Privy Council. Kuroda died of a brain hemorrhage in 1900 and Enomoto Takeaki presided over his funeral ceremonies, his grave is at the Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo. From the corresponding Japanese Wikipedia article Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun Count Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum List of Ambassadors from Japan to South Korea Auslin, Michael R.. Negotiating with Imperialism: The Unequal Treaties and the Culture of Japanese Diplomacy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01521-0; the Making of Modern Japan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674003347. Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852–1912. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-12340-2. Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5. Japanese Political History Since the Meiji Renovation 1868–2000. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9780312239145.
Ishimoto Shinroku
Baron Ishimoto Shinroku was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army, Minister of War under the second Saionji Kinmochi administration from 1911 to 1912. Ishimoto was born to a samurai-class family in Himeji, Harima Province. Soon after his birth, his family's house in Edo was destroyed in the Ansei earthquake of 1854, in the subsequent Meiji Restoration, his father lost his employment and privileged status. Despite his family's desperate financial situation, he was sent to the Daigaku Nankō for a military education, was enlisted as a cadet in the fledgling Imperial Japanese Army. In February, 1875, Ishimoto was accepted into the 1st class of the new Imperial Japanese Army Academy, enrolled in the military engineering program, he was able to put his education to immediate use in the Satsuma Rebellion. Afterwards, from 1879–1882, he was sent as a military attaché to France, where he was able to complete his education in engineering and artillery at the French Army's École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr.
He returned to Japan for a year, was sent overseas again from 1883 to 1887 as military attaché to the Kingdom of Italy. On his return to Japan, his rise through the ranks was rapid, he was promoted to colonel in 1895, major general in 1897, became an instructor in military engineering, first at the Imperial Japanese Army Academy, at the Army Staff College, afterwards he worked as a section head in the Japanese Army Corps of Engineers. His knowledge and ability caught the eye of General Terauchi Masatake, who made him a chief of staff during the Russo-Japanese War, he was promoted to lieutenant-general in 1904. After the war, Ishimoto was elevated to the title of danshaku under the kazoku peerage system. In 1911, Ishimoto was appointed Army Minister under the cabinet of Prime Minister Saionji Kinmochi. At the time, there was a major controversy between the Army's demand for an expansion by two additional infantry divisions, the cabinet's insistence that there was not enough money in the budget to pay for the expansion.
He died while in office, at the young age of 59, with the issue unresolved. His grave is located at the temple of Tenno-ji, located in Taitō, Tokyo. Ishimoto's wife was the daughter of General Adachi Shotarō, they had several children. Conners, Leslie; the Emperor's Adviser: Saionji Kinmochi and Pre-War Japanese Politics. Routledge Kegan & Paul. ISBN 0-7099-3449-1. Oka, Yoshitake. Five Political Leaders of Modern Japan: Ito Hirobumi, Okuma Shigenobu, Hara Takashi, Inukai Tsuyoshi, Saionji Kimmochi. University of Tokyo Press. ISBN 0-86008-379-9. Dupuy, Trevor N.. Encyclopedia of Military Biography. I B Tauris & Co Ltd. ISBN 1-85043-569-3. Schencking, J. Charles. Making Waves: Politics, And The Emergence Of The Imperial Japanese Navy, 1868-1922. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-4977-9. Sims, Richard. Japanese Political History Since the Meiji Renovation 1868-2000. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-312-23915-7. Wendel, Markus. "Army Minister of State". Axis History Factbook
Yamamoto Gonnohyōe
Admiral Count Yamamoto Gonbee, GCMG called Gonnohyōe, was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy and the 16th and 22nd Prime Minister of Japan. Yamamoto was born in Kagoshima in Satsuma Province as the son of samurai who served the Shimazu clan; as a youth, he took part in the Anglo-Satsuma War. He joined Satsuma's Eighth Rifle Troop. After the success of the Meiji Restoration, Yamamoto attended preparatory schools in Tokyo, entering the 2nd class of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1870. After graduation in 1874, he went on a training cruise to Europe and South America aboard Imperial German Navy vessels from 1877–78, as junior officer acquired much sea experience, he wrote a gunnery manual that became the standard for the Imperial Japanese Navy and served as executive officer of the cruiser Naniwa on its shakedown voyage from Elswick to Japan. Afterwards, he accompanied Navy Minister Kabayama Sukenori on a trip to the United States and Europe; as commander of the cruiser Takao, undertook a confidential mission to meet Qing General Yuan Shikai in Hanseong, Korea.
Afterwards, he assumed command of the Takachiho. Working under his patron, Navy Minister Saigō Tsugumichi from 1893, Yamamoto became the real leader of the navy, he pushed for an aggressive strategy toward China in the First Sino-Japanese War. Yamamoto's subsequent rise through the ranks was rapid: rear admiral, he was made baron under the kazoku peerage system in 1902. As Minister of the Navy during the Russo-Japanese War, Yamamoto showed strong leadership and was responsible for appointing Tōgō Heihachirō as commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, he gave voice to Tōgō's reports. Yamamoto was elevated to count in 1907. Count Yamamoto served as Prime Minister in 1913–14. During Yamamoto's first term as the prime minister, he abolished the rule that both the Navy Minister and Army Minister had to be active duty officers, he had a reputation for being a liberal and a supporter of public claims for democracy and constitutional government. However, his administration was plagued by charges of corruption and he was forced to resign with his entire cabinet to take responsibility for the Siemens-Vickers Naval Armaments scandal though it was never proved that he was involved.
Yamamoto was transferred to naval reserve in 1914. Yamamoto was recalled to government as Prime Minister again in the emergency crisis "earthquake cabinet" following the Great Kantō earthquake, he showed leadership in the restoration of Tokyo, damaged by the earthquake. He attempted to reform the electoral system to permit universal male suffrage. However, he and his cabinet resigned again in January 1924, this time over the attempt by Namba Daisuke to assassinate Prince Regent Hirohito on 27 December 1923. Subsequently, Yamamoto withdrew from political life completely, he died in 1933 and his grave is at the Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo. From the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia Baron Count Order of the Sacred Treasure, 2nd Class Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun Order of the Golden Kite, 1st class Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers Collar of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George. Dupuy, Trevor N..
Encyclopedia of Military Biography. I B Tauris & Co Ltd. ISBN 1-85043-569-3. Schencking, J. Charles. Making Waves: Politics, And The Emergence Of The Imperial Japanese Navy, 1868–1922. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-4977-9. Sims, Richard. Japanese Political History Since the Meiji Renovation 1868–2000. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-312-23915-7. Nishida, Hiroshi. "Materials of IJN: Yamamoto, Gonbee". Imperial Japanese Navy. Retrieved 2007-08-03. London Gazette Issue 28019
Imperial General Headquarters
The Imperial General Headquarters was part of the Supreme War Council and was established in 1893 to coordinate efforts between the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during wartime. In terms of function, it was equivalent to the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff and the British Chiefs of Staff Committee; the Imperial General Headquarters was established by Imperial Decree 52 on 22 May 1893 under the auspices of creating a central command for both the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff. The Emperor of Japan, defined as both Head of State and the Generalissimo of the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces according to the Meiji Constitution of 1889 to 1945, was the head of the Imperial General Headquarters, was assisted by staff appointed from the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy; the Imperial General Staff Headquarters was independent of the civilian government of the Empire of Japan, including the Cabinet and the Prime Minister of Japan.
Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi was allowed to attend meetings by the express order of Emperor Meiji during the First Sino-Japanese War. However, Prime Minister Katsura Taro, despite his military background, was denied entry to meetings during the subsequent Russo-Japanese War. After the Lugouqiao Incident in July 1937, Imperial Decree 658 of 18 November 1937 abolished the original Imperial General Headquarters, immediately re-constituted under Military Decree 1, which gave the new Imperial General Headquarters command authority over all military operations during peacetime situations as well as wartime situations. In November 1937, to bring the chiefs of Army and Navy into closer consultation with his government, Emperor Hirohito established a body known as the Imperial General Headquarters-Government Liaison Conference within Imperial General Headquarters; the Liaison Conferences were intended to assist in integrating the decisions and needs of the two military sections of Imperial General Headquarters with the resources and policies of the rest of the government.
Reaching agreement between the Army and Navy on strategic planning was difficult. When agreement was reached on an important strategic issue, the agreement was reduced to writing in a document called a Central Agreement and signed by both Chiefs of Army and Navy General Staffs; the final decisions of Liaison Conferences were formally disclosed and approved at Imperial Conferences over which Emperor Hirohito presided in person at the Tokyo Imperial Palace. During the Pacific War, after the firebombing of Tokyo, the Imperial General Headquarters relocated to an underground facility in the mountains outside Nagano. With the surrender of Japan, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers ordered the Imperial General Headquarters abolished on 13 September 1945. Imperial General Headquarters Navy Sections; the Army Section comprised the Chief of Army General Staff and his chief of Army Operations, the Army Minister. The Navy Section comprised Chief of Navy General Staff, his chief of Navy Operations, the Navy Minister.
In addition, the Inspector-General of Military Training, whose rank was on-par with that of the Chiefs of the General Staff, the Aide-de-camp to the Emperor of Japan were members. Middle-ranking officers of Army and Navy General Staff, Army and Navy Ministry, met from time to time at middle-level liaison or study conferences to discuss Japan's strategic war plans, plans requiring cooperation between the two armed services, outside of the formal meeting in the presence of the Emperor. Relations between the Japanese Army and Navy were never cordial, marked by deep hostility; the Army saw the Soviet Union as Japan's greatest threat and for the most part supported the Hokushin-ron concept that Japan's strategic interests were on the Asian continent. The Navy looked across the Pacific Ocean and saw the United States as the greatest threat, for the most part supported the Nanshin-ron concept that Japan's strategic interests were in Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands. Hirohito, the Emperor of Japan, was defined as the Head of State and the Generalissimo of the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces according to the constitution of 1889.
During World War II, the leadership of the Imperial General Headquarters consisting of the following: Chief of the Army General Staff Kotohito Kan'in Hajime Sugiyama Hideki Tōjō Yoshijirō Umezu Chief of the Navy General Staff Hiroyasu Fushimi Osami Nagano Shigetarō Shimada Koshirō Oikawa Soemu Toyoda Minister of War Hajime Sugiyama Seishirō Itagaki Shunroku Hata Hideki Tōjō Korechika Anami Minister of the Navy Mitsumasa Yonai Zengo Yoshida Koshirō Oikawa Shigetarō Shimada The majority of these troops were stationed in China, Japan and Korea. This includes some 61 divisions, 59 brigades, 51 air squadrons. Only a fraction of Japan's military, 11 to 14 divisions and the South Seas Detachment, were available for the December 1941 operations in South-East Asia and the Pacific. Imperial General Headquarters IJA General Staff General Affairs Bureau Organization and Mobilization Department Training Department 1st Bureau Operations Department Defence Department 2nd Bureau Europe and the Americas Department China Department Russia/Soviet Union Department Intelligence Department 3rd Bureau Transport Department Communications Department 4th Bureau Military History Department Strategy and Tactics Department General Staff College Land Survey D
Takashima Tomonosuke
Viscount Takashima Tomonosuke was a general in the early Imperial Japanese Army. Born into a samurai family of Satsuma Domain (present day Kagoshima Prefecture, Takashima studied at the Han school Zōshikan, he fought in the Boshin War to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate. He was commissioned into the fledgling Imperial Japanese Army in 1874, he served as vice-chief of the First Bureau of the Ministry of War, Commandant of the Kyododan. During the Satsuma Rebellion, he fought against his former Satsuma colleagues, led the IJA 1st Detached Infantry Brigade. Takashima was promoted to lieutenant general in 1883. In 1884, Takashima was ennobled with the title of viscount under the kazoku peerage system, in 1887 was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun 1st class. In 1888, Takashima was commander of the IJA 4th Division, he became Minister of War in the first cabinet of Prime Minister Matsukata Masayoshi in 1891. Takashima was appointed to the Privy Council in 1892. In 1895, he became Vice Governor-General of Taiwan.
He again took up the post of Minister of War under the 2nd cabinet of Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi and 2nd cabinet of Prime Minister Matsukata from 1896 to 1898, was appointed again to the Privy Council from 1899 to his death in 1916. Harries, Meirion. Soldiers of the Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army. Random House. ISBN 0-679-75303-6. National Diet Library. "Takashima Tomonosuke". Portraits of Modern Historical Figures. Wendel, Marcus. "Army Ministers of State". Axis History Factbook
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