Prince Fumimaro Konoe was a Japanese politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1937 to 1939 and from 1940 to 1941. He presided over the Japanese invasion of China in 1937 and the breakdown in relations with the United States, which ultimately culminated in Japan's entry into World War II. He also played a central role in transforming his country into a totalitarian state by passing the State General Mobilization Law and founding the Imperial Rule Assistance Association while dissolving all other political parties.
Kiichirō Hiranuma was a Japanese lawyer and politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan in 1939.
General Nobuyuki Abe was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army, Prime Minister of Japan, and the last Governor-General of Korea.
Kuniaki Koiso was a Japanese politician, military leader and convicted war criminal who served as prime minister of Japan from 1944 to 1945 during World War II. He previously served as governor-general of Korea from 1942 to 1944.
Baron Sadao Araki was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army before and during World War II. As one of the principal nationalist right-wing political theorists in the Empire of Japan, he was regarded as the leader of the radical faction within the politicized Imperial Japanese Army and served as Minister of War under Prime Minister Inukai. He later served as Minister of Education during the Konoe and Hiranuma administrations.
MarquessKōichi Kido was a Japanese statesman who served as Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan from 1940 to 1945, and was the closest advisor to Emperor Hirohito throughout World War II. He was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment, of which he served 6 years before being released in 1953.
The Supreme War Council was an advisory body to the Emperor on military matters, established in 1903 and abolished in 1945. The council was established during the development of representative government in Meiji period Japan to further strengthen the authority of the state. Its first leader was Yamagata Aritomo (1838–1922), credited as founder of the modern Imperial Japanese Army and the first constitutional Prime Minister of Japan.
The political situation in Japan (1914–44) dealt with the realities of the two World Wars and their effect on Japanese national policy.
Hachirō Arita was a Japanese politician and diplomat who served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs for three terms. He coined the term Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, which provided an official agenda for Imperial Japan's expansionism.
Takeo Hiranuma is a Japanese politician and a member of the House of Representatives. He is a member of the Liberal Democratic Party and is former chairperson of the Party for Future Generations.
The Imperial Rule Assistance Association, or Imperial Aid Association, was the Empire of Japan's ruling political organization during much of the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. It was created by Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe on 12 October 1940, to promote the goals of his Shintaisei movement. It evolved into a "statist" ruling political party which aimed at removing sectionalism and factionalism from politics and economics in the Empire of Japan, creating a totalitarian one-party state in order to maximize the efficiency of Japan's total war effort against China and later the Allies. When the organization was launched officially, Konoe was hailed as a "political savior" of a nation in chaos; however, internal divisions soon appeared.
The Tientsin incident (天津事件) was an international incident created by a blockade by the Imperial Japanese Army's Japanese North China Area Army of the British settlements in the north China treaty port of Tientsin in June 1939. Originating as a minor administrative dispute, it escalated into a major diplomatic incident.
The National Spiritual Mobilization Movement was an organization established in the Empire of Japan as part of the controls on civilian organizations under the National General Mobilization Law by Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe.
Etsusaburo Shiina was a career bureaucrat and politician. As Foreign Minister of Japan from 1964 to 1966 he played a pivotal role in diplomatic relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea.
Ikeda Shigeaki , also known as Seihin Ikeda, was a politician, cabinet minister and businessman in the Empire of Japan, prominent in the early decades of the 20th century. He served as director of Mitsui Bank from 1909-1933, was appointed governor of the Bank of Japan in 1937, and served as Minister of Finance under Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe from 1937 to 1939. In 1941, he was made a member of the Imperial Privy Council; following Japan's defeat in World War II, Ikeda was banned from public political service.
Yonezō Maeda was a politician and cabinet minister in the pre-war Empire of Japan.
Machida Chūji was a politician and cabinet minister in the pre-war Empire of Japan.
Nobumasa Suetsugu was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy, and briefly served as Home Minister in the 1940s.
Harumichi Tanabe was a bureaucrat and cabinet minister in early Shōwa period Japan.
Suehiko Shiono was a Japanese lawyer, politician and cabinet minister noted for his prosecution of high-profile cases of political crimes and thought crimes under the Peace Preservation Laws of the 1930s Empire of Japan.
