Editing Mamoru Shigemitsu (section)

==Post-war==
Despite Shigemitsu's well-known opposition to the war, at the insistence of the Soviet Union, he was taken into custody by the [[Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers]] and held in [[Sugamo Prison]] as an accused [[war criminal]]. Despite a signed deposition by [[Joseph Grew]], the former ambassador of the United States to Japan, over the protests of [[Joseph B. Keenan]], the chief prosecutor,<ref>Fischel, Elaine. Defending the Enemy, Bascom Hill Books {{ISBN|1-935456-03-2}} p. 297</ref> Shigemitsu and his case came to trial and was convicted by the [[International Military Tribunal for the Far East]] for waging an aggressive war and for not doing enough to protect [[prisoners-of-war]] from inhumane treatment. However, the tribunal was extremely lenient on the grounds that Shigemitsu had regularly opposed Japanese militarism and protested the POWs' inhumane treatment.

He was sentenced to seven years in prison, the lightest punishment that was handed down to anyone convicted at the trial. He was paroled in 1950.

After the end of the [[occupation of Japan]], Shigemitsu formed a short-lived political party, [[Kaishintō]], which merged with the [[Japan Democratic Party (1954)|Japan Democratic Party]] in 1954. In October 1952, he was elected to a seat in the [[House of Representatives of Japan|Lower House]] of the [[Diet of Japan]], and in 1954, he became [[Deputy Prime Minister|Deputy Prime Minister of Japan]] under Prime Minister [[Ichirō Hatoyama]], the leader of Japan Democratic Party.

The cabinet continued after the merger of the party and the [[Liberal Party (Japan, 1945)|Liberal Party]] as the [[Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)|Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)]] in 1955, and Shigemitsu continued to hold the post of [[Deputy Prime Minister|Deputy Prime Minister of Japan]] until 1956.

Shigemitsu concurrently served as [[Minister for Foreign Affairs (Japan)|Foreign Minister]] from 1954 to 1956. In April 1955, he represented Japan at the [[Bandung Conference]] held in [[Indonesia]], which marked the beginning of the return of Japan to participating in an international conference since the [[League of Nations]]. Then in August, Shigemitsu led a high-level Japanese delegation to the United States to press for a revision to the [[Security Treaty Between the United States and Japan|U.S.–Japan Security Treaty]], but this effort was met with a cold reception from Secretary of State [[John Foster Dulles]], who had been the treaty's primary architect and was loath to revisit it.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kapur|first=Nick|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Re5hDwAAQBAJ|title=Japan at the Crossroads: Conflict and Compromise after Anpo|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2018|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|isbn=978-0674984424|pages=12, 38–39}}</ref> Dulles told Shigemitsu in no uncertain terms that any discussion of treaty revision was "premature" because Japan lacked "the unity, cohesion, and capacity to operate under a new treaty arrangement," and Shigemitsu was forced to return to Japan empty-handed.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kapur|first=Nick|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Re5hDwAAQBAJ|title=Japan at the Crossroads: Conflict and Compromise after Anpo|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2018|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|isbn=978-0674984424|pages=39}}</ref>

The following year, Shigemitsu addressed the [[United Nations General Assembly]], pledging Japan's support of the founding principles of the [[United Nations]] and formally applying for membership. Japan became the UN's 80th member on December 18, 1956.<ref>NHK "Sonotoki" transmission 305 of November 14, 2007</ref> Shigemitsu also travelled to [[Moscow]] in 1956 in an attempt to normalize diplomatic relations and to resolve the [[Kuril Islands dispute]]. The visit resulted in the [[Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956]].