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List of Japanese government and military commanders of World War II

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In the administration of Japan dominated by the Imperial Way Faction movement, during World War II, the civil central government of Japan was under the management of some military men, and of some civilians:

Central Government

Supreme head of government

  • Emperor Hirohito: supreme Commander in Chief of Armed Imperial Forces, head of state and central government, and representative of "Imperial Sun Lineage", State Shinto and Worship national cult image, and chief of the Imperial Household.

Imperial family members with heavy or near government activity

Prime Ministers

Military Secretary to Prime Minister

Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal

  • Koichi Kido: chief secretary to the Naidaijin, and last proper Naidaijin (Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal).

Privy Councillors

Military Aide-de-Camp

Grand Chamberlain

House of Representatives

House of Peers

Home Defence

Home Defense Headquarters

Tokyo metropolitan area

Tokyo Divisional District

  • Jo Iimura: Commanding General, Tokyo Defense Army; concurrently Commanding General, Tokyo Divisional District

Tokyo Garrison Headquarters

Tokyo Bay Fortress Detachment Officers

  • Shihei Oba:- Commanding General, Tokyo Bay Fortress, concurrently Commanding General, Tokyo Bay Detachment
  • Tokumatsu Shigeta:- Staff Officer, Tokyo Bay Fortress Detachment,

Maizuru Fortified Zone

Tsushima Fortress Detachment

Chosen Army District

For details of the Chosen Army:

War Ministries

Munitions Minister

War Materiel Section, War Ministry

  • Hiroo Sato: Chief, War Materiel Section, War Ministry

Sagami Army Arsenal

Army Remount Department

Inspector General of Chemical Warfare

Officer in Inspectorate General

Army Section, Imperial General Headquarters

  • Prince Takahito: Staff officer in the Army Section of the Imperial General Headquarters

Oita PW Internment Camp Staff

  • Akira Muto: member of Oita PW Internment Camp staff

War Ministers

Secretary to the War Minister

  • Joichiro Sanada: Secretary to War Minister; concurrently Adjutant in the same Ministry; Aide to the War Minister; Staff Officer, Tokyo Garrison Command
  • Takushiro Hattori: Secretary to the War Minister; Adjutant, War Ministry
  • Joichiro Sanada: Aide to War Minister, IGHQ,
  • Hiroo Sato: Adjutant to the War Minister
  • Yoshio Kozuki: Secretary to the War Minister; Adjutant,War Ministry
  • Juzo Nishio: Adjutant, War Ministry; Secretary to the War Minister; Governor, Tokyo Metropolitan area
  • Yozo Miyama: Senior Adjutant, War Ministry
  • Arao Okikatsu: Secretary to the War Minister

Military Affairs Bureau, War Ministry

  • Shigenori Kuroda: Section Chief (Conscription), War Ministry
  • Tetsuzan Nagata: Section Chief, Economic Mobilization Bureau
  • Koiso Kuniaki: Chief, Materiel Mobilization Bureau, War Ministry
  • Heitaro Kimura: Section Chief, Economic Mobilization Bureau, War Ministry
  • Kanji Nishihara: attached to Army Technical Department
  • Toshishiro Obata: Chief, Operations Bureau, Army General Staff
  • Joichiro Sanada: Member, War Ministry Maintenance section; Chief, Army Affairs Section, Military Affairs Bureau, War Ministry
  • Minoru Sasaki: Ordnance Bureau, War Ministry, Army Ordnance Main Depot, Mechanized Department
  • Sosaku Suzuki: Army Ordnance, Administration Department
  • Kenryo Sato: Chief, Military Affairs Bureau, War Ministry
  • Teichii Suzuki: Military Affairs Bureau; concurrently Member of the Cabinet Research Board
  • Shinichi Tanaka: Chief, Military Service Section, War Ministry
  • Yoshijiro Umezu: Ordnance Bureau, War Ministry
  • Isamu Yokoyama: Economic Mobilization Bureau, War Ministry; Section Chief, Planning Bureau, Cabinet Resources Board

Personal Bureau of War Ministry

Provost Marshal General

General Affairs Bureau, Provost Marshal Headquarters

Supreme War Council

Military Councilors

Supreme War Councilor

Army

Deputy Chief of Army General Staff

Chief of Army General Staff

Army General Staff

20th Group - War Coordination, Army General Staff

Operations Section, Army General Staff

  • Seijun Inada: Chief of Operations Section, Army General Staff

Third Section-Organization and Mobilization, Army General Staff

  • Yozo Miyama: Chief, Third Section (Organization and Mobilization), Army General Staff
  • Kitsuju Ayabe: Section Chief, Third Section (Organization and Mobilization), Army General Staff

Second Bureau (Intelligence), Army General Staff

  • Seizo Arisue: Chief, Second Bureau-(Intelligence), Army General Staff

Third Bureau (Logistics), Army General Staff

  • Tan Nukata: Chief, Third Bureau-Logistics, Army General Staff
  • Goro Isoya: Chief, Third Bureau-Logistics, Army General Staff

Railways and Shipping section, Army General Staff

  • Arao Okikatsu: Section Chief (Railways and Shipping), Army General Staff

Army Ordnance and Army Shipping Department

  • Yoshio Kozuki: Commanding General, Shipping Transportation Headquarters
  • Sosaku Suzuki: Army Ordnance, Administration Department; Chief, Army Shipping Department Shipping Transportation Headquarters

Chairman of the Military Affairs Bureau

  • Tetsuzan Nagata: Military Affairs Bureau and Economic Mobilization Bureau
  • Kenryo Sato: Chief of the Military Affairs Bureau, Government Planning Board
  • Ando Rikichi: Chief, Military Administration Section, Military Administration Bureau
  • Renya Mutaguchi: Military Affairs Bureau
  • Akiho Ishii: Chief, Military Affairs Section, War Ministry
  • Arao Okikatsu: Chief, Army Affairs Section, Military Affairs Bureau
  • Susumu Nishiura: Chief, Army Affairs Section, War Ministry
  • Tan Nukata: Chief, General Affairs Bureau
  • Hitoshi Imamura: Section Chief, Military Affairs Bureau
  • Yoshio Kozuki: Military Affairs Bureau and Military Administration Bureau; member Military Administration Bureau
  • Kanji Nishihara: Section Member, Military Affairs Bureau; Inspector General of Chemical Warfare
  • Takeo Yasuda: Chief, Defense Section, Military Affairs Bureau, War Ministry

Army High Level Inner Liaison with Army General Staff

  • Suichi Miyazaki: Chief, First Bureau, Army General Staff Headquarters, attended operational liaison conference between IGHQ, Southern Army, and Fourteenth Area Army (Manila).

Army Aeronautical Department

Inspectorate General of Army Air Force

Inspectorate General of Military Training

Imperial Army-Navy military teaching and training services units

See: Military instructors and trainers of the Empire of Japan

Kwantung Army Commanders (until 1945)

Kwantung Government-General Administration

  • Sadao Araki: Officer (Major), Kwantung Government-General
  • Koiso Kuniaki: Army Staff Officer, Kwantung Government-General,
  • Jun Ushiroku: Officer, assigned to Kwantung Government-General

For a complete structure see:

Structures in other Japanese armies

See:

Police

Commander in Chief of Kempeitai units

  • Kenzo Kitano: Military Police (Gendarmerie) Commander, China Forces
  • Hideki Tojo: Commanding General, Military Police, Kwantung Army
  • Sanji Okido: Commander, Military Police
  • Takeshi Mori: Deputy Chief, Military Police Headquarters
  • Shizuichi Tanaka: Chief, General Affairs Bureau; Military Police Forces Headquarters; Commander, Kwantung Army Military Police Units; Commander, Military Police Forces (LtGen)
  • Keisuke Fujie: Chief, General Affairs Bureau, Military Police; Headquarters, Kwantung Army; Commander, Kwantung Army Military Police

Imperial Guards unit

  • Sadao Araki: Company Commander, 1st Infantry Regiment, Imperial Guard Division, during Russo-Japanese War
  • Jinsaburo Mazaki: Regimental Commander, 1st Infantry, Imperial Guard Division
  • Makino Shiro: Battalion Commander, 4th Imperial Guard Infantry Regiment
  • Shojiro Iida: Regimental Commander, 4th Infantry, Imperial Guard Division
  • Hisaichi Terauchi: Regimental Commander, 3rd Imperial Guards(Colonel); Chief of Staff, Imperial Guard Regiment; Chief of Staff, Imperial Guard Division
  • Korechika Anami: Regimental Commander, 2nd Imperial Guards unit
  • Fusataro Teshima: Imperial Guard Division Commander
  • Kioji Tominaga: Infantry Regiment Commander, 2nd Imperial Guards
  • Akira Muto: Imperial Guard Division Commander; 2nd Imperial Guard Division Commander
  • Nobuyoshi Obata: Commanding Officer, Transportation Regiment, Imperial Guard Division
  • Tadasu Kataoka: Commander, Imperial Guard Cavalry Regiment; Commander, Imperial Guard Reconnaissance Regiment
  • Yaezo Akashiba: 1st Imperial Guards Division Commander
  • Tadamichi Kuribayashi: Commanding General, 2nd Imperial Guard Depot Division (LtGen)
  • Takeshi Mori: Commanding General, 1st Imperial Guard Division, killed during abortive coup d'etat launched against him at Imperial Palace.

Keishicho Civil Police forces

  • Takushiro Hattori: Member (Army-Navy high level liaison), Naval General Staff; Naval Staff Officer (Operations) IGHQ; Section Chief (Operations), Army General Staff, IGHQ; Army Section Member, Naval General Staff Naval Staff Officer, IGHQ (Operations).
  • Joichiro Sanada: Chief, Second Section,(Army-Navy high level liaison) Army General Staff Headquarters; Staff Officer, IGHQ (Navy Section)

War Relief Association

Marine Ministers

  • Shigetaro Shimada: Marine Minister; Commandant in Kure and Yokosuka Naval Districts; Commander, China Navy Area Fleet; Chief of Naval General Staff
  • Teijiro Toyoda: Marine Minister
  • Takasumi Oka: Marine minister
  • Mitsumasa Yonai: Marine Minister; Commander-in-Chief, First Expeditionary Fleet (Yangtze River); Commander Yokosuka and Sasebo Naval District; Commander-in-Chief, Combined Fleet; Imperial and Supreme War Councilor; Ex-Prime Minister and political adviser
  • Kantaro Suzuki: Vice-Minister of Navy

Chief of Naval General Staff

Vice-Chief of Naval General Staff

Technical Council in Navy Technical Department

  • Mitsumasa Yonai: Member, Technical Council, Navy Technical Department, Yokosuka Naval Station.

Combined Fleet

Chief of Staff of Combined Fleet

First Naval Air Fleet

Second Navy Air Fleet

China Navy Area Fleet

Carrier Division Three

Kure and Yokosuka Naval Districs

Sasebo Naval District

Yokosuka Naval Base

Chinkai Naval Station (Chosen)

Central Government Ministries

Kodoha ideological advisers in government

Welfare Minister

  • Koichi Kido: Education, Welfare and Home Minister, as well as chief secretary to the Naidaijin and last proper Naidaijin (Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal). He is recognised as one of the principal supporters of General Tojo's policies. During his period as Home Affairs Minister, he commanded the Keiseicho (Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department), and national civil police forces.

Minister of Education

  • Sadao Araki: charge of Minister of Education; Company Commander, 1st Infantry Regiment, Imperial Guard Division, during the Russo-Japanese War; principal nationalist thinker and right-wing political adviser in the country; War minister; founder of Kokuhonsha (Society for the Foundation of the State) right-wing secret society
  • Hideki Tojo: Minister of Education
  • Koichi Kido: concurrently Minister of Education

Finance Minister

National Economic policies

Cabinet Planning Board

Commerce and Industry Minister

Minister of State (without portfolio)

Minister of Agriculture

Communications Minister

Justice Minister

Home Affairs Minister

Diet members

Foreign Affairs

Foreign Affairs Minister

Overseas ambassadors

Military attachés in foreign service

See: Japanese military attachés in foreign service

Japanese Overseas Consul-Generals

Japanese Overseas Affairs Minister

Political Affairs Section of the Asia Development Board

Japanese advisers for support allied nations

Manchukuo

Mengjiang

Wang Jingwei Government

Governor-General in Exterior Provinces (1944-45)

Japanese experts in Jewish Affairs(1939-42)

Military and Civil experts(Jewish & Manchurian Think Tank Groups)

East Jew leader and Japanese supporter in Manchukuo

  • Abraham Kaufman:-Manchu Jew leader, founder of Far Eastern Jewish Council and Betarim Jew Zionists Movement

1938 Five Minister Conference(Special meeting for analized the Jewish question)

1938 Five Ministers' Conference,five of the most powerful men in Japan gathered to discuss the ideas and plans of the 'Jewish experts.

German Liason in Jewish topics(until 1942)

Government Supporters

Other close military government collaborators

Ultra-nationalist supporters close to the government

  • Prince Kanin: ultra-nationalists supporter, and State Shintoism supporter, later was sent to Southeast Asia, in order to convey the Imperial message concerning the cessation of hostilities.
  • Prince Asaka: Right-wing partisan, also involved in the Rape of Nanking, with Tenno direct orders to supervise operations along General Kesago Nakajima, one of Operative Commanders in area; later returned to China in order to convey the Imperial Message concerning the cessation of hostilities.<! ? clarify, cite ref.>
  • Prince Takeda: Nationalist follower; possibly was chief of Japanese Secret Services in Manchukuo, coordinated military and civil actions. Had a direct link with Imperial Family. Later sent to Manchukuo, with orders to convey the Imperial Message concerning the cessation of hostilities, but decided instead to take action against Soviet forces in the area.
  • Yoshio Kodama: Right-wing industrialist, yakuza chief and honorary Rear Admiral, supporter of right-wing government policies
  • Ryoichi Sasakawa: Another right-wing follower, and fascist thinker
  • Nobuyuki Abe: Ex-Prime Minister, Governor-General of Chosen and political advisor
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