Ministry of Greater East Asia
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The Ministry of Greater East Asia, originally called the Ministry for Colonization, was organized in 1929 to oversee the territories Japan would acquire in their expansionist efforts. In 1942, the Ministry of Colonization became the Ministry of Greater East Asia; by this time, the Ministry oversaw not only Japanese territory in China and Manchuria, but also much of Southeast Asia, the Philippines, and many Pacific Islands. Hideki Tojo transferred to it a number of responsibilities previously held by the Foreign Ministry.
This government institution had political and administrative responsibilities in a wide area under Japanese influence (it extended from the Aleutians, 4,500 miles south to the Salomon Islands, from Wake island 5,000 miles to west to Burma and the Andamans). An area of 4.4 millions of square kilometers (3,250,000 square miles), with 300 or 150 million habitants, from the first stages of the Pacific War. It had something in common with the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories under Alfred Rosenberg in Germany.
Territories were classified as:
- Manchukuo
- Mengjiang
- Wang Jingwei Government
- Chinese Occupied lands
- Macao
- Hong Kong
- Thailand (Siam) Kingdom
- Autonomous Province in French Indochina
- Burma, independent in August 1943
- Philippines, independent in October 1943
- Timor island
- Christmas Island
- Nan-Tō (Southern Regions): Melanesia (excluding the Philippines)
The last-mentioned region divided as:
- Shonan or Syonan Province, formed by: Malacca,Singapore and Sumatra
- Java
- Borneo
- Celebes, Sunda(Sonda) Islands and New Guinea.
Other exterior zones were:
- Hainan
- Spratly and nearest islands
- Paracel Islands and nearest islands
- Nauru
- Ocean island
- Wake Island
- Attu and Kiska Islands
- Salomon Islands
- Gilberts
- Andaman and Nicobar islands
Projected administrations were:
- Russian Far East and Siberia
- British India
- Australia
- Santa Cruz Islands
- New Hebrides Islands
- New Caledonia and Loyalty Archipelago
- Fiji Islands
- Wallis Islands
- Tuvalu islands
- West Samoa Island
- Tokelau Islands
- Tonga Islands
The Ministry was abolished in 1945, when the end of the war brought an end to Japan's overseas holdings.
Contents |
[edit] Ministers of Colonization
- Tanaka Giichi; Jun 1929 - Jul 1929
- Matsuda Genji; Jul 1929 - Apr 1931
- Hara Shūjirō; Apr 1931 - Sep 1931
- Wakatsuki Reijirō; Sep 1931 - Dec 1931
- Mitsuchi Chūzō; Dec 1931 - May 1932
- Minami Hiroshi; May 1932 - Jul 1934
- Okada Keisuke; Jul 1934 - Oct 1934
- Kodama Hideo; Oct 1934 - Mar 1936
- Nagata Hidejirō; Mar 1936 - Feb 1937
- Yūki Toyotarō; Feb 1937 - June 1937
- Otani Sonyū; Jun 1937 - Jun 1938
- Ugaki Kazushige; Jun 1938 - Sep 1938
- Konoe Fumimaro; Sep 1938 - Oct 1938
- Hatta Yoshiaki; Oct 1938 - Apr 1939
- Koiso Kuniaki; Apr 1939 - Aug 1939
- Kanemitsu Tsuneo; Aug 1939 - Aug 1940
- Koiso Kuniaki; Jan 1940 - Jul 1940
- Matsuoka Yōsuke; Jul 1940 - Sep 1940
- Akita Kiyoshi; Sep 1940 - Jul 1941
- Toyoda Teijirō; Jul 1941 - Oct 1941
- Tōgō Shigenori; Oct 1941 - Dec 1941
- Ino Hiroya; Dec 1941 - Nov 1942
[edit] Ministers of Greater East Asia
- Aoki Kazuo; Nov 1942 - Jul 1944
- Shigemitsu Mamoru; Jul 1944 - Apr 1945
- Suzuki Kantarō; - Apr 1945
- Tōgō Shigenori; Apr 1945 - Aug 1945
- Shigemitsu Mamoru; - Aug 1945
(The Ministry was abolished in August of 1945)
[edit] References
- "Foreign Office Files for Japan and the Far East". Adam Matthew Publications. Accessed 2 March 2005.
