Mamoru Shigemitsu | |
|---|---|
重光 葵 | |
 Shigemitsu in 1945 | |
| Deputy Prime Minister of Japan | |
| In office December 10, 1954 – December 23, 1956 | |
| Prime Minister | Ichirō Hatoyama |
| Preceded by | Taketora Ogata |
| Succeeded by | Mitsujirō Ishii |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
| In office December 10, 1954 – December 23, 1956 | |
| Prime Minister | Ichirō Hatoyama |
| Preceded by | Katsuo Okazaki |
| Succeeded by | Nobusuke Kishi |
| In office August 17, 1945 – September 15, 1945 | |
| Prime Minister | Naruhiko Higashikuni |
| Preceded by | Shigenori Togo |
| Succeeded by | Shigeru Yoshida |
| In office April 20, 1943 – April 7, 1945 | |
| Prime Minister | Hideki Tojo |
| Preceded by | Masayuki Tani |
| Succeeded by | Shigenori Togo |
| Minister of Greater East Asia | |
| In office August 17, 1945 – August 25, 1945 | |
| Prime Minister | Naruhiko Higashikuni |
| Preceded by | Shigenori Tōgō |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| In office July 22, 1944 – April 7, 1945 | |
| Prime Minister | Kuniaki Koiso |
| Preceded by | Kazuo Aoki |
| Succeeded by | Kantarō Suzuki |
| Member of theHouse of Representatives | |
| In office October 2, 1952 – January 26, 1957 | |
| Preceded by | Takashi Nagata |
| Succeeded by | Kentarō Ayabe |
| Constituency | Ōita 2nd |
| Member of theHouse of Peers | |
| In office August 15, 1945 – August 29, 1945 Nominated by theEmperor | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1887-07-29)July 29, 1887 |
| Died | January 26, 1957(1957-01-26) (aged 69) Yugawara, Kanagawa, Japan |
| Party | LDP (1955–1957) |
| Other political affiliations | Independent (before 1952) Kaishintō (1952–1954) JDP (1954–1955) |
| Alma mater | Tokyo Imperial University |
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Mamoru Shigemitsu (重光 葵,Shigemitsu Mamoru; July 29, 1887 – January 26, 1957) was a Japanese diplomat and politician who served asMinister of Foreign Affairs three times during and afterWorld War II and asDeputy Prime Minister. As a civilianplenipotentiary representing the Japanese government, Shigemitsu cosigned theJapanese Instrument of Surrender on board the battleshipUSS Missouri on September 2, 1945.
Shigemitsu was born in what is now part of the city ofBungo-ōno,Ōita Prefecture, Japan. He graduated from the Law School ofTokyo Imperial University in 1911 and immediately entered theMinistry of Foreign Affairs.[1] AfterWorld War I, he served in numerous overseas diplomatic assignments, including in Germany and the United Kingdom and briefly as consul at the Japanese consulate inSeattle, Washington, United States.
Following theMukden Incident in 1931, Shigemitsu was active in various western capitals, attempting to reduce alarm at Japanese military activities inManchuria.
During theFirst Shanghai Incident of 1932, he was successful in enlisting the aid of western nations in brokering a ceasefire between theKuomintang Army and theImperial Japanese Army. On April 29, 1932, while attending a celebration for the birthday of EmperorHirohito inShanghai, aKorean independence activist,Yoon Bong-Gil, threw a bomb at a reviewing stand killing GeneralYoshinori Shirakawa and wounding several others, including Shigemitsu.[2] Shigemitsu lost his right leg in the attack and walked with anartificial leg and cane for the rest of his life.
Shigemitsu later became ambassador to theSoviet Union, and in 1938, he negotiated a settlement of the Russo-Japanese border clash atChangkufeng Hill. He then became Japan's ambassador to theUnited Kingdom during a period of deterioratingAnglo-Japanese relations, most notably theTientsin incident of 1939, which pushed Japan to the brink of war with the United Kingdom. He was recalled in June 1941.
Shigemitsu was highly critical of the foreign policies ofYōsuke Matsuoka, especially theTripartite Pact, which he warned would further strengthenanti-Japanese sentiment in the United States. Shigemitsu spent two weeks inWashington, DC, on the way back from Britain and conferred with AmbassadorKichisaburō Nomura to attempt to arrange for direct face-to-face negotiations between Japanese Prime MinisterFumimaro Konoe and US PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt.
Shigemitsu's many attempts to stave offWorld War II angered the militarists in Tokyo, and only two days after theattack on Pearl Harbor, he was sidelined with an appointment as ambassador to the Japanese-sponsoredReorganized National Government of China. In China, Shigemitsu argued that the success of the proposedGreater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere depended on the equal treatment of China and the other Asian nations by Japan.[3][page needed]
On April 20, 1943, in a move that was viewed as a sign that Japan might be preparing for a collapse of theAxis powers, Japanese Prime MinisterHideki Tōjō replaced Foreign MinisterMasayuki Tani with Shigemitsu, who had been steadfast in his opposition to the militarists. Shigemitsu was thus foreign minister during theGreater East Asia Conference.[4] The American press often referred to him in headlines as "Shiggy".[5]
From July 22, 1944, to April 7, 1945, he served simultaneously as Minister of Foreign Affairs andMinister of Greater East Asia in theKuniaki Koiso administration.[6] He then again served as Minister of Foreign Affairs briefly in August 1945 in thePrince Higashikuni Naruhiko administration right before Japan's surrender.
Shigemitsu, as civilianplenipotentiary, along with GeneralYoshijirō Umezu, signed theJapanese Instrument of Surrender on board the battleshipUSS Missouri on September 2, 1945.
Despite Shigemitsu's well-known opposition to the war, at the insistence of the Soviet Union, he was taken into custody by theSupreme Commander of the Allied Powers and held inSugamo Prison as an accusedwar criminal. Despite a signed deposition byJoseph Grew, the former ambassador of the United States to Japan, over the protests ofJoseph B. Keenan, the chief prosecutor,[7] Shigemitsu and his case came to trial and was convicted by theInternational Military Tribunal for the Far East for waging an aggressive war and for not doing enough to protectprisoners-of-war from inhumane treatment. However, the tribunal was extremely lenient on the grounds that Shigemitsu had regularly opposed Japanese militarism and protested the POWs' inhumane treatment.
He was sentenced to seven years in prison, the lightest punishment that was handed down to anyone convicted at the trial. He was paroled in 1950.
After the end of theoccupation of Japan, Shigemitsu formed a short-lived political party,Kaishintō, which merged with theJapan Democratic Party in 1954. In October 1952, he was elected to a seat in theLower House of theDiet of Japan, and in 1954, he becameDeputy Prime Minister of Japan under Prime MinisterIchirō Hatoyama, the leader of Japan Democratic Party.
The cabinet continued after the merger of the party and theLiberal Party as theLiberal Democratic Party (LDP) in 1955, and Shigemitsu continued to hold the post ofDeputy Prime Minister of Japan until 1956.
Shigemitsu concurrently served asForeign Minister from 1954 to 1956. In April 1955, he represented Japan at theBandung Conference held inIndonesia, which marked the beginning of the return of Japan to participating in an international conference since theLeague of Nations. Then in August, Shigemitsu led a high-level Japanese delegation to the United States to press for a revision to theU.S.–Japan Security Treaty, but this effort was met with a cold reception from Secretary of StateJohn Foster Dulles, who had been the treaty's primary architect and was loath to revisit it.[8] Dulles told Shigemitsu in no uncertain terms that any discussion of treaty revision was "premature" because Japan lacked "the unity, cohesion, and capacity to operate under a new treaty arrangement," and Shigemitsu was forced to return to Japan empty-handed.[9]
The following year, Shigemitsu addressed theUnited Nations General Assembly, pledging Japan's support of the founding principles of theUnited Nations and formally applying for membership. Japan became the UN's 80th member on December 18, 1956.[10] Shigemitsu also travelled toMoscow in 1956 in an attempt to normalize diplomatic relations and to resolve theKuril Islands dispute. The visit resulted in theSoviet–Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956.
In January 1957, a year after his visit to theSoviet Union, Shigemitsu died ofmyocardial infarction at 69 in his summer home inYugawara,Kanagawa.[11]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister for Foreign Affairs April 1943 – April 1945 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Greater East Asia July 1944 – April 1945 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Greater East Asia August 1945 – August 1945 | Succeeded by Office abolished |
| Preceded by | Minister for Foreign Affairs August 1945 – September 1945 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Foreign Affairs December 1954 – December 1956 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Deputy Prime Minister of Japan 1954–1956 | Succeeded by |
