Editing Mamoru Shigemitsu

{{Short description|Japanese diplomat and politician (1887–1957)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name             = Mamoru Shigemitsu
| native_name      = {{nobold|重光 葵}}
| native_name_lang = ja
| image            = Shigemitsu Mamoru.jpg
| image_size       = 220px
| caption          = Shigemitsu in 1945
| office           = [[Deputy Prime Minister of Japan]]
| primeminister    = [[Ichirō Hatoyama]]
| term_start       = 10 December 1954
| term_end         = 23 December 1956
| predecessor      = [[Taketora Ogata]]
| successor        = Mitsujiro Ishii
| office2          = [[Minister for Foreign Affairs (Japan)|Minister of Foreign Affairs]]
| primeminister2   = [[Ichirō Hatoyama]]
| term_start2      = 10 December 1954
| term_end2        = 23 December 1956
| predecessor2     = [[Katsuo Okazaki]]
| successor2       = [[Nobusuke Kishi]]
| primeminister3   = [[Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni|Naruhiko Higashikuni]]
| term_start3      = 17 August 1945
| term_end3        = 15 September 1945
| predecessor3     = [[Shigenori Togo]]
| successor3       = [[Shigeru Yoshida]]
| primeminister4   = [[Hideki Tojo]]
| term_start4      = 20 April 1943
| term_end4        = 7 April 1945
| predecessor4     = [[Masayuki Tani]]
| successor4       = [[Shigenori Togo]]
| office5          = [[Ministry of Greater East Asia|Minister of Greater East Asia]]
| primeminister5   = Naruhiko Higashikuni
| term_start5      = 17 August 1945
| term_end5        = 25 August 1945
| predecessor5     = [[Shigenori Tōgō]]
| successor5       = ''Office abolished''
| primeminister6   = [[Kuniaki Koiso]]
| term_start6      = 22 July 1944
| term_end6        = 7 April 1945
| predecessor6     = [[Kazuo Aoki]]
| successor6       = [[Kantarō Suzuki]]
| office7          = Member of the [[House of Representatives (Japan)|House of Representatives]]
| constituency7    = [[Ōita 2nd district (1947–1993)|Ōita 2nd]]
| term_start7      = 2 October 1952
| term_end7        = 26 January 1957
| predecessor7     = 
| successor7       = 
| office8          = Member of the [[House of Peers (Japan)|House of Peers]]
| term_start8      = 15 August 1945
| term_end8        = 29 August 1945 {{hanging indent|[[Kazoku|Hereditary peerage]]}}
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1887|7|29|df=y}}
| birth_place      = [[Bungo-ōno, Ōita]], [[Empire of Japan|Japan]]
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1957|1|26|1887|7|29|df=y}}
| death_place      = [[Yugawara, Kanagawa]], Japan
| party            = [[Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)|LDP]] (1955–1957)
| otherparty       = [[Independent politician|Independent]] (before 1952)<br>[[Kaishintō]] (1952–1954)<br>[[Japan Democratic Party|JDP]] (1954–1955)
| alma_mater       = [[University of Tokyo|Tokyo Imperial University]]
}} 
[[File:虹口公园爆炸后现场.jpg|thumb|[[Hongkew Park]], [[Shanghai]], after the bombing in which Shigemitsu lost his leg on April 29, 1932.]]
[[Image:Surrender of Japan - USS Missouri.jpg|250px|right|thumb|Shigemitsu (with cane) on board {{USS|Missouri|BB-63|6}}, September 2, 1945]]
[[Image:Mamoru Shigemitsu signs the Instrument of Surrender, officially ending the Second World War.jpg|thumbnail|250px|right|Shigemitsu signs the [[Japanese Instrument of Surrender (1945)|Japanese Instrument of Surrender]] at the end of [[World War II]], accompanied by [[Toshikazu Kase]] (right).]]
{{Nihongo|'''Mamoru Shigemitsu'''|重光 葵|Shigemitsu Mamoru|July 29, 1887 &ndash; January 26, 1957}} was a Japanese diplomat who served as [[Minister for Foreign Affairs (Japan)|Minister of Foreign Affairs]] three times during and after [[World War II]] and as [[Deputy Prime Minister of Japan|Deputy Prime Minister]]. As a civilian [[plenipotentiary]] representing the Japanese government, Shigemitsu cosigned the [[Japanese Instrument of Surrender]] on board the battleship {{USS|Missouri|BB-63|6}} on September 2, 1945.

==Early life and career==
Shigemitsu was born in what is now part of the city of [[Bungo-ōno, Ōita|Bungo-ōno]], [[Ōita Prefecture]], Japan. He graduated from the Law School of [[Tokyo Imperial University]] in 1911 and immediately entered the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan)|Ministry of Foreign Affairs]].<ref name="Hoover">{{Cite book|last=Hoover|first=William D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jyx1DwAAQBAJ|title=Historical Dictionary of Postwar Japan|publisher=[[Rowman and Littlefield]]|year=2018|location=Lanham, MD|page=351|isbn=978-1538111567}}</ref> After [[World War I]], he served in numerous overseas diplomatic assignments, including in Germany and the United Kingdom and briefly as consul at the Japanese consulate in [[Seattle, Washington]], United States.

==Pre-war==
Following the [[Mukden Incident]] in 1931, Shigemitsu was active in various European capitals, attempting to reduce alarm at Japanese military activities in [[Manchuria]].

During the [[January 28 Incident|First Shanghai Incident]] of 1932, he was successful in enlisting the aid of western nations in brokering a ceasefire between the [[National Revolutionary Army|Kuomintang Army]] and the [[Imperial Japanese Army]]. On April 29, 1932, while attending a celebration for the birthday of Emperor [[Hirohito]] in [[Shanghai]], a [[Korean independence movement|Korean independence activist]], [[Yoon Bong-Gil]], threw a bomb at a reviewing stand killing General [[Yoshinori Shirakawa]] and wounding several others, including Shigemitsu.<ref>"Jap Officers Hurt By Bomb Explosion", ''The Bismarck Tribune'', April 29, 1932, p. 1; [http://www.ussmissouri.com/Surrender/shigemitsu.htm USSMissouri.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927192452/http://www.ussmissouri.com/Surrender/shigemitsu.htm |date=September 27, 2007 }}</ref> Shigemitsu lost his right leg in the attack and walked with an [[artificial limb|artificial leg]] and cane for the rest of his life.

Shigemitsu later became ambassador to the [[Soviet Union]], and in 1938, he negotiated a settlement of the Russo-Japanese border clash at [[Battle of Lake Khasan|Changkufeng Hill]]. He then became Japan's ambassador to the [[United Kingdom]] during a period of deteriorating [[Anglo-Japanese relations]], most notably the [[Tientsin incident]] of 1939, which pushed Japan to the brink of war with the United Kingdom. He was recalled in June 1941.

==World War II==
Shigemitsu was highly critical of the foreign policies of [[Yōsuke Matsuoka]], especially the [[Tripartite Pact]], which he warned would further strengthen [[anti-Japanese sentiment in the United States]]. Shigemitsu spent two weeks in [[Washington, DC]], on the way back from Britain and conferred with Ambassador [[Kichisaburō Nomura]] to attempt to arrange for direct face-to-face negotiations between Japanese Prime Minister [[Fumimaro Konoe]] and US President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]].

Shigemitsu's many attempts to stave off [[World War II]] angered the militarists in Tokyo, and only two days after the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]], he was sidelined with an appointment as ambassador to the Japanese-sponsored [[Reorganized National Government of China]]. In China, Shigemitsu argued that the success of the proposed [[Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere]] depended on the equal treatment of China and the other Asian nations by Japan.<ref>[[John Toland (author)|Toland]], ''[[The Rising Sun]]''. Random House, New York (1970) {{ISBN?}}</ref>{{page needed|date=November 2021}}

On April 20, 1943, in a move that was viewed as a sign that Japan might be preparing for a collapse of the [[Axis Powers]], Japanese Prime Minister [[Hideki Tōjō]] replaced Foreign Minister [[Masayuki Tani]] with Shigemitsu, who had been steadfast in his opposition to the militarists. Shigemitsu was thus foreign minister during the [[Greater East Asia Conference]].<ref>"Jap Cabinet is Shaken Up", ''Nevada State Journal'', April 21, 1943, p. 1</ref> The American press often referred to him in headlines as "Shiggy".<ref>"Shigemitsu, Mamoru", ''Current Biography 1943'', p. 692</ref>

From July 22, 1944, to April 7, 1945, he served simultaneously as Minister of Foreign Affairs and [[Ministry of Greater East Asia|Minister of Greater East Asia]] in the [[Kuniaki Koiso]] administration.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Japan and Her Destiny: My Struggle for Peace|url=https://archive.org/details/japanandherdesti006533mbp|last=Shigemitsu|first=Mamoru|publisher=E.P. Dutton & Co.|year=1958|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/japanandherdesti006533mbp/page/n324 319]–320}}</ref> He then again served as Minister of Foreign Affairs briefly in August 1945 in the [[Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko]] administration right before Japan's surrender.

Shigemitsu, as civilian [[plenipotentiary]], along with General [[Yoshijirō Umezu]], signed the [[Japanese Instrument of Surrender]] on board the battleship {{USS|Missouri|BB-63|6}} on September 2, 1945.

==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]].

==Death==
In January 1957, a year after his visit to the [[Soviet Union]], Shigemitsu died of [[myocardial infarction]] at 69 in his summer home in [[Yugawara]], [[Kanagawa Prefecture|Kanagawa]].<ref name=died>{{cite news |date=January 26, 1957|title=Mamoru Shigemitsu, 69, Dead; Surrendered for Japan to Allies; Former Foreign Minister Was Imprisoned for War Crime – Led Nation Into U.N. Made Peace Overtures Entered Foreign Ministry Tried With Tojo |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/01/26/archives/mamoru-shigemitsu-69-dead-surrendered-for-japan-to-allies-former.html|work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=August 15, 2020}}</ref>

== References ==
{{commons category}}
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book |first=Mamoru |last=Shigemitsu |others=F.S.G. Piggott (editing), Oswald White (translation) |title=Japan and Her Destiny: My Struggle for Peace |location=New York |publisher=Dutton |date=1958 |oclc=1069057234 |url=https://archive.org/details/japanandherdesti006533mbp/page/n5/mode/2up}} 
* Archive Footage references to Shigemitsu at Internet Movie Database [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0793351/]
* Website on exhibition in Japanese Parliament Nov 8–30, 2007 [https://web.archive.org/web/20071104221430/http://www.shugiin.go.jp/itdb_annai.nsf/html/statics/kensei/kensei1.html], accessed November 14, 2007

==External links==
* {{PM20|FID=pe/016436}}

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{{succession box | before=[[Masayuki Tani]] | title=[[Minister for Foreign Affairs (Japan)|Minister for Foreign Affairs]] | years=April 1943 – April 1945 | after=[[Kantarō Suzuki]]}}
{{succession box | before=[[Kazuo Aoki]] | title=[[Ministry of Greater East Asia|Minister of Greater East Asia]] | years=July 1944 – April 1945 | after=[[Kantarō Suzuki]]}}
{{succession box | before=[[Shigenori Tōgō]] | title=[[Ministry of Greater East Asia|Minister of Greater East Asia]] | years=August 1945 – August 1945 | after= Office abolished}}
{{succession box | before = [[Shigenori Tōgō]] | title=[[Minister for Foreign Affairs (Japan)|Minister for Foreign Affairs]] | years=August 1945 – September 1945 | after=[[Shigeru Yoshida]]}}
{{succession box | before=[[Katsuo Okazaki]] | title=[[Minister for Foreign Affairs (Japan)|Minister for Foreign Affairs]] | years=December 1954 – December 1956 | after=[[Nobusuke Kishi]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Taketora Ogata]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Deputy Prime Minister of Japan]]|years=1954–1956}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Mitsujirō Ishii]]}}
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{{Japanese foreign ministers}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shigemitsu, Mamoru}}
[[Category:1887 births]]
[[Category:1957 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Bungo-ōno, Ōita]]
[[Category:World War II political leaders]]
[[Category:Japanese people of World War II]]
[[Category:University of Tokyo alumni]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of Japan to the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of Japan to the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of Japan to China]]
[[Category:Deputy prime ministers of Japan]]
[[Category:Ministers for foreign affairs of Japan]]
[[Category:Japanese amputees]]
[[Category:Japanese politicians with disabilities]]
[[Category:Japanese people convicted of war crimes]]
[[Category:People convicted by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East]]
[[Category:Permanent representatives of Japan to the United Nations]]
[[Category:Members of the House of Representatives (Japan)]]
[[Category:Democratic Party (Japan, 1954) politicians]]
[[Category:Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) politicians]]
[[Category:Japanese politicians convicted of crimes]]
[[Category:Politicians from Ōita Prefecture]]
[[Category:Consuls General of Japan in Shanghai]]