Kazuo Aoki | |
|---|---|
青木 一男 | |
 Aoki in the 1940s | |
| Minister of Greater East Asia | |
| In office 1 November 1942 – 22 July 1944 | |
| Prime Minister | Hideki Tojo |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Mamoru Shigemitsu |
| Minister of Finance | |
| In office 30 July 1939 – 16 January 1940 | |
| Prime Minister | Nobuyuki Abe |
| Preceded by | Sōtarō Ishiwata |
| Succeeded by | Yukio Sakurauchi |
| Member of theHouse of Councillors | |
| In office 3 May 1953 – 3 July 1977 | |
| Constituency | National district |
| Member of theHouse of Peers | |
| In office 28 August 1939 – 11 January 1946 Nominated by theEmperor | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1889-11-28)28 November 1889 |
| Died | 25 June 1982(1982-06-25) (aged 92) |
| Party | Liberal Democratic |
| Other political affiliations | Independent (1939–1950) Liberal (1950–1955) |
| Alma mater | Tokyo Imperial University |
Kazuo Aoki (青木 一男,Aoki Kazuo; 28 November 1889 – 25 June 1982) was a bureaucrat and cabinet minister in theEmpire of Japan, serving asMinister of Finance, andMinister of Greater East Asia.
Aoki was born to a farming family inSarashina District,Nagano prefecture (now part of the city ofNagano), and was trained as a lawyer, graduating from the Law School ofTokyo Imperial University in 1916. On graduation, he entered theMinistry of Finance.
Rising rapidly through the ranks, Aoki became chief of the Financial Bureau underTakahashi Korekiyo, who made use of his legal background to have Aoki draft a Foreign Exchange Management Act, which was passed by theDiet of Japan in 1933. Up until that time, Japan had not attempted to implement comprehensive state control overforeign exchange. Aoki followed up on this law with the Rice Control Act (1933) and the Petroleum Control Act (1934), which set the stage for increasing state control over strategic sectors of the economy. He was also on the committee which drafted theNational Service Draft Ordinance, which placed the Japanese economy on awar economy footing after the start of theSecond Sino-Japanese War.Prime MinisterFumimaro Konoe asked Aoki to become deputy director of theCabinet Planning Board in 1937, and he became its chairman in 1939. The same year, Aoki was nominated to a seat in theUpper House in the Diet.
Under Prime MinisterAbe, Aoki wasMinister of Finance in 1939, while retaining his post as chairman of the Cabinet Planning Board. After the fall of the Abe administration, Aoki was assigned as a special envoy to theReorganized National Government of China to guide economic policy. He was recalled to Japan under theTōjō administration to the newly created cabinet post ofMinister of Greater East Asia In November 1942, in which position he oversaw theGreater East Asia Conference.
Aoki visited Japanese-occupiedBatavia in May 1943, meeting withMohammad Hatta, who as representative for the Indonesian nationalists, advised him that unless there was a shift in Japanese policy towards granting independence for Indonesia (as it had forBurma and thePhilippines), it would be increasingly difficult to maintain popular support for Japan. Aoki promised to raise the issue with Tōjō, who mentioned his intent to grant independence toMalaya,Sumatra,Java,Borneo andSulawesi within a year in his June 1943 parliamentary speech.[1]
After thesurrender of Japan, Aoki was arrested (as were all former government members) by theSupreme Commander of the Allied Powers and held inSugamo Prison on charges ofwar crimes. However, he was released in 1948 without coming to trial. Afterwards, Aoki established a private legal practice. In 1953, he ran for a seat in theHouse of Councilors with the support of theLiberal Party on a nationwide ticket. He was subsequently reelected to the same seat three more times as a member of theLiberal Democratic Party (LDP). He joined a right-wing faction within the LDP in 1960 which was adamantly opposed to Japan’s normalization of relations with thePeople’s Republic of China and supported Japan’s continued recognition of theRepublic of China onTaiwan. He was also a strong supporter of building a nationwide network of highways in Japan, especially theChūō Expressway.
After his retirement from politics, Aoki joined the Board of Directors ofShin-etsu Broadcasting, and in 1968 was one of the founders of theNagano Broadcasting Systems. In 1971, he was awarded theOrder of the Rising Sun, 1st class. He published his memoirs in 1981, shortly before his death in 1982.
| House of Councillors | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Tadayasu Iwasawa | Chair of Budget Committee ofHouse of Councillors of Japan 1953–1954 | Succeeded by Eizō Kobayashi |
| Preceded by Kichinosuke Saigō | Chair of Finance Committee ofHouse of Councillors of Japan 1955 | Succeeded by Shinichi Okazaki |
| Preceded by Masae Koyanagi | Chair of Cabinet Affairs Committee ofHouse of Councillors of Japan 1956 | Succeeded by Tokuji Kameda |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Sōtarō Ishiwata | Minister of Finance 1939–1940 | Succeeded by |
| New title | Minister of Greater East Asia 1942–1944 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by Kamejirō Hayashiya | Chair,Liberal Democratic PartyHouse of Councillors' Committee 1965–1966 | Succeeded by Tarō Hirai |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by Yoshio Kijima | Oldest member of theHouse of Councillors of Japan 1974–1977 | Succeeded by |
