Konoe Fumimaro
(1891–1945), Japanese prince and politician. Konoe Fumimaro was a prominent politician between World War I and World War II and the prime minister of three cabinets between 1937 and 1941. Born in Tokyo of imperial ancestry, he held the title of prince. In his university years, Konoe came to view international relations as a class struggle between overbearing "have" nations and grasping "have-nots." The latter group, according to Konoe's world vision, included Japan, which he believed was held in its inferior status by the major powers and their handmaiden institution, the League of Nations.
Konoe's belief that a Japanese hegemonic role in Asia was essential to keep order in the region played into the hands of the military. In 1937, while prime minister, he ushered in a full-scale war to assert Japanese mastery over China. The China Incident, as this invasion was known among Japanese, began with a skirmish with Nationalist troops outside Beijing and eventuated in the capture of China's capital, Nanjing, and coastal provinces. Konoe also initiated wartime economic and military mobilization at home. Three years later his government signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy. He failed in his efforts to resolve the China Incident and to construct déutente with Great Britain and the United States in the months before the Japanese invaded Pearl Harbor. When the German invasion of the Soviet Union and U.S. economic sanctions threatened his foreign agenda, Konoe resigned in October 1941 and was replaced by General Tojo Hideki (1884–1948).
In the final year of the war, Konoe engaged in maneuvering to terminate the conflict. Early in the Allied Occupation, General Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964) tapped him to draft a revision of the Meiji Constitution. However, Konoe's concepts of a reformed constitution fell far short of Occupation authorities' visions. For his prewar policies, the War Crimes Tribunal indicted Konoe as a Class A war criminal. On the day he was to report to prison, he committed suicide.
Further Reading
Berger, Gordon M. (1977) Parties Out of Power in Japan. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Fletcher, Miles. (1982) The Search for a New Order: Intellectuals and Fascism in Prewar Japan. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
Oka Yoshitake. (1992) Konoe Fumimaro: A Political Biography. Lanham, MD: Madison Books.
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