Hideki Tojo

Hideki Tojo

Hideki Tojo was a Japanese politician and general of the Imperial Japanese Army. He served as Prime Minister of Japan for most of World War II. He presided over numerous war crimes including the massacre and starvation of civilians and prisoners of war. After the war’s tide decisively turned against Japan, he was forced to resign in July 1944. He was arrested, convicted by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in the Tokyo Trials, and hanged on December 23, 1948.

About Hideki Tojo in brief

Summary Hideki TojoHideki Tojo was a Japanese politician and general of the Imperial Japanese Army. He served as Prime Minister of Japan for most of World War II. He presided over numerous war crimes including the massacre and starvation of civilians and prisoners of war. After the war’s tide decisively turned against Japan, he was forced to resign in July 1944. He was arrested, convicted by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in the Tokyo Trials, sentenced to death, and hanged on December 23, 1948. Tojo’s family came from the samurai caste, though the Tojos were relatively lowly warrior retainers for the great daimyōs that they had served for generations. His father was a samurai turned Army officer and his mother was the daughter of a Buddhist priest, making his family very respectable, but poor. In 1905, Tojo shared in the general outrage in Japan at the Treaty of Portsmouth, which ended the war with Russia, which the Japanese saw as a betrayal as the war did not end with Japan annexing Siberia. In 1909, Hideki married Katsuko Katso with whom he had four sons, all of whom had three sons of their own. The marriage ended in divorce and the couple later had a daughter and a son-in-law, both of whom died in World War Two. He died of natural causes in Tokyo, Japan, on December 30, 1948, at the age of 67. He is buried in the Kōjimachi Cemetery in Tokyo.

He had a son, Hidenori Tojo, who was a lieutenant general in the ImperialJapanese Army. To jo was known for his stubbornness, lack of a sense of humor, for being an opinionated and combative youth fond of getting into fights with the other boys and for his tenacious way of pursuing what he wanted. He liked to say: “I am just an ordinary man possessing no shining talents. Anything I have achieved I owe to my capacity for hard work and never giving up” He was known to compensate for his observed lack of intellect with a willingness to work extremely hard. He also had a love of the arts and was an avid collector of books. He wrote several books, including “The Art of War” and “The Secret History of the Japanese Army” He also wrote a book about his experiences in the Second World War, “The Battle of the Bulge” (1939-1944). He was also the author of “The War of the Pacific: A Memoirs of a Japanese Prime Minister” (1945-1948). He died in Tokyo on December 25, 1948 at the aged of 67, and was buried at the Tokyo Memorial Cemetery. His son, Katsuko, was also a politician and a former member of the House of Representatives. He has a daughter, Katso, and a grandson, Hidetaka. He lived in Tokyo with his wife and three sons. He later died in a nursing home in Tokyo and died in Japan in 1998.