Jirō Minami

Did You Know?

• As War Minister in 1931, he dispatched Major General Yoshitsugu Tatekawa to Manchuria to curb the Kwantung Army's militarist behaviors, but the Mukden Incident occurred before Tatekawa could act.
• During his tenure as Governor-General of Korea from 1936 to 1942, he outlawed all but one of the Korean-language newspapers.
• He was paroled in 1954 on grounds of his health and died a year later.

Career

Jirō Minami’s military career began during the Russo-Japanese War, where he served on the headquarters staff and led a company in the 1st Cavalry Regiment at the Siege of Port Arthur. He rose through the ranks, becoming a major in 1905 and a lieutenant colonel in 1910. By 1915 he was a colonel, commanding the 13th Cavalry Regiment from 1914 to 1917 during World War I, then heading the Cavalry Section of the War Ministry until 1919. Promoted to major general that year, he commanded the 3rd Cavalry Brigade from 1921 to 1923, served as Commandant of the Cavalry School in 1922–1923, and led the Imperial Japanese Army Academy as its commandant from 1923 to 1924. He became a lieutenant general in 1924, took command of the 16th Division from 1926 to 1927, served as Vice Chief of the General Staff until 1929, and then became Commander-in-Chief of the Chosen Army from 1929 to 1930. He reached full general in 1930.

Back in Japan, Minami was appointed War Minister in the Wakatsuki Cabinet in 1931. In that role, he sent Major General Yoshitsugu Tatekawa to Manchuria to try to rein in the Kwantung Army’s aggressive actions, but the Mukden Incident happened before Tatekawa could intervene, worsening relations with China. Minami was also War Minister during the Imperial Colors Incident. He sat on the Supreme War Council from 1931 to 1934, then took command of the Kwantung Army from 1934 to 1936, while also serving as Japan’s ambassador to Manchukuo. After the February 26 Incident in 1936, he was placed on the reserve list and forced out of active duty.

That same year, Minami became Governor-General of Korea, a position he held until 1942. His administration took a much harder line than earlier ones, reversing many liberal reforms from the 1920s. He banned all Korean-language newspapers except one and aggressively promoted the soshi-kamei policy, which pushed Koreans to adopt Japanese names. After Korea, he served on the Privy Council from 1942 to 1945. In March 1945, when the Imperial Rule Assistance Political Association in the Diet was reorganized into the Dai Nippon Seijikai, Minami was chosen as its president. He promptly resigned from the Privy Council and was appointed to the House of Peers.

Arrest and conviction

After the war, American occupation forces detained Jirō Minami and put him on trial before the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. He was found guilty on just two counts, for his role as a leader in planning an unprovoked war of aggression against China, mainly because he served as War Minister during the Manchurian Incident. The court cleared him of waging war against the United States, the British Commonwealth, and the Netherlands, as well as two charges concerning the mistreatment of prisoners. Given a life sentence, Minami was released on parole in 1954 due to poor health and passed away the following year.