Cabinet Tōjō

The Tōjō cabinet upon taking office.

The Tōjō cabinet ( Japanese 東 條 内閣 , Tōjō naikaku ) ruled Japan under Prime Minister Tōjō Hideki from October 18, 1941 to July 22, 1944.

In the fifth year of the war on the mainland , Prime Minister Prince Konoe Fumimaro resigned on October 16, 1941 after the failure of negotiations over a settlement with the United States. The Shōwa-Tennō (Hirohito) appointed the previous Minister of Defense, General Tōjō Hideki, as his successor, against Konoe's recommendation. While Foreign Minister Tōgō Shigenori was still trying to negotiate and sending special envoy Kurusu Saburō to Washington, leading parts of the army already considered a military confrontation to be inevitable. A few weeks later, on December 1, 1941, the eighth Gozen Kaigi informed the Tennō of the impending escalation: With the attack on Pearl Harbor and the European colonies in Southeast Asia, Japan expanded the war to include the Allies.

Tōjō took over as prime minister, interior minister, army minister and active general at the same time, comprehensive control of the military, police and domestic politics. Parliament, parties and the media had been largely robbed of their influence since the beginning of the war in 1937 through special powers of the government and the creation of the Taisei Yokusankai .

In April 1942, the only parliamentary election during the war was held, the 21st election to the Shūgiin, the lower house , in which candidates for Taisei Yokusankai won 381 of the 466 seats. In May, the Yokusan Seijikai faction was formed in parliament, with the existing factions still in existence in the Kizokuin , the mansion.

In view of the poor course of the war after initial successes in 1941/42 , Tōjō resigned in July 1944 shortly after the devastating battle in the Philippine Sea and the loss of Saipan . The previous Governor General of Korea, Koiso Kuniaki , has been appointed as his successor.

Minister of State

After the first cabinet meeting in the Kantei (from left to right; front row: Hashida, Tōjō, Suzuki; middle row: Koizumi, Ino; back row: Shimada, Tōgō, Terajima, Iwamura).

Tōjō Cabinet - October 18, 1941 to July 22, 1944.

Office	Surname	Chamber (constituency)	fraction
prime minister	General Tōjō Hideki	-	-
Foreign minister	Tōgō Shigenori until September 1, 1942	-	-
	General Tōjō Hideki until September 17, 1942	-	-
	Tani Masayuki until April 20, 1943	-	-
	Shigemitsu Mamoru	-	-
Interior minister	General Tōjō Hideki until February 17, 1942	-	-
	Yuzawa Michio until April 20, 1943	-	-
	Lieutenant General Andō Kisaburō	-	-
Finance minister	Kaya Okinori until February 19, 1944	Kizokuin
	Ishiwata Sōtarō	Kizokuin	Kenkyūkai
Army Minister	General Tōjō Hideki	-	-
Naval Minister	Admiral Shimada Shigetaro until July 17, 1944	-	-
	Admiral Nomura Naokuni	-	-
Minister of Justice	Iwamura Michiyo	-	-
Minister of Education	Hashida Kunihiko until April 20, 1943	-	-
	General Tōjō Hideki until April 23, 1943	-	-
	Vice Count Okabe Nagakage	Kizokuin	Kenkyūkai
Minister of Agriculture and Forestry until November 1, 1943	Ino Hiroya until April 20, 1943	-	-
	Yamazaki Tatsunosuke	Shūgiin ( Fukuoka 3)	Yokusan Seijikai
Minister of Industry and Commerce until November 1, 1943	Kishi Nobusuke until October 8, 1943	Shūgiin ( Yamaguchi 2)	Yokusan Seijikai
	General Tōjō Hideki	-	-
Minister of Agriculture and Industry from November 1, 1943	Yamazaki Tatsunosuke until February 19, 1944	Shūgiin (Fukuoka 3)	Yokusan Seijikai
	Uchida Nobuya	Shūgiin ( Ibaraki 1)	Yokusan Seijikai
Minister of Munitions from November 1, 1943	General Tōjō Hideki	-	-
Communications Minister until November 1, 1943	Vice Admiral Terajima Ken until October 8, 1943	- → Kizokuin
	Hatta Yoshiaki	Kizokuin	Kenkyūkai
Minister of Railways until November 1, 1943	Vice Admiral Terajima Ken until December 2, 1941	- → Kizokuin
	Hatta Yoshiaki	Kizokuin	Kenkyūkai
Minister of Transport and Communications from November 1, 1943	Hatta Yoshiaki until February 19, 1944	Kizokuin	Kenkyūkai
	Gotō Keita	-	-
Colonial Minister until November 1, 1942	Tōgō Shigenori until December 2, 1942	Kizokuin	Mushozoku Kurabu
	Ino Hiroya	-	-
Greater East Asia Minister from November 1, 1942	Aoki Kazuo	Kizokuin	Kenkyūkai
Minister of Social Affairs	Lieutenant General Koizumi Chikahiko	-	-
Minister of State	Lieutenant General Suzuki Teiichi	-	-
	Kishi Nobusuke from October 8, 1943	Shūgiin ( Yamaguchi 2)	Yokusan Seijikai
	Lieutenant General Andō Kisaburō from June 9, 1942	-	-
	Ōasa Tadao from April 20, 1943	Shūgiin ( Kumamoto 1)	Yokusan Seijikai
	Aoki Kazuo September 17, 1942 to November 1, 1942	Kizokuin	Kenkyūkai
	Gotō Fumio from May 26, 1943	Kizokuin	Kenkyūkai
	Fujiwara Ginjirō from November 17, 1943	-	-

Other positions

Office	Surname	Chamber (constituency)	fraction
Chief Cabinet Secretary	Hoshino Naoki	Kizokuin	Kenkyūkai
Head of the Legislative Office	Moriyama Eiichi	Kizokuin

Web links

• Kantei , 昭和 ２０ 年代 前 （戦 前） の 内閣 閣僚 名簿 : 東 條 内閣

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus, Tōjō is the family name, Hideki the first name.