Higashikuni Naruhiko

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(1887–1990), prime minister of Japan. Higashikuni Naruhiko was Japan's first prime minister following its surrender to the U.S. on 15 August 1945; he served from 17 August to 9 October 1945. An uncle to Emperor Hirohito by marriage (Higashikuni's wife, Toshiko, was the ninth and youngest daughter of the Meiji emperor), Higashikuni acted in the role of caretaker prime minister to peacefully turn over control of Japan to the Allied Occupation armies.

Higashikuni was born in Kyoto in 1887. As a member of the nobility, following the custom of the times, he entered the attached Primary School of the Imperial Army, followed by Officers' School and Army College. After graduation, Higashikuni married and in 1920 went to France to study, staying for seven years. While in France, Higashikuni developed affection for Impressionist art and had a wide circle of friends, including Claude Monet and Georges Clemenceau. Through these acquaintances, Higashikuni learned about Western social and political thought and developed a reputation as a liberalist among the nobility.

Upon his return to Japan, Higashikuni rose to the rank of field marshal. After the fall of the Konoe Fumimaro cabinet in October 1941, he was recommended to become prime minister in the belief that he could prevent the march toward war, but Army Minister Tojo Hideki took the post instead. In August 1945, Higashikuni became prime minister; his main tasks were preparing for the official surrender and the start of the Allied Occupation. In October of that same year, Higashikuni and his Cabinet resigned due to policy differences with the Occupation authorities. In 1950, Higashikuni formed his own religious sect, Higashikunikyo. In 1990, one year after the death of Emperor Hirohito, he died at the age of 103.

Masumi Junnosuke. (1985) Postwar Politics in Japan, 1945–1955. Trans. by Lonny E. Carlile. Berkeley, CA: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California.