Tanaka Giichi

Tanaka Gi'ichi (田中義一 Tanaka Gi'ichi 22 June 1863–29 September 1929) was a Japanese soldier, politician, and the 26th Prime Minister of Japan from April 20 1927 to July 2 1929.

Military Career

Tanaka was born a commoner in Hagi, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. He joined the military and served with distinction in the Russo-Japanese War, becoming Sub-Chief of Central Major State in 1915 and General in 1920. He served as War Minister under Prime Ministers Hara Takashi (1918-21) and Yamamoto Gonnohyoe (1923-24), during which time he backed the Siberian Expedition. He officially retired from the military in 1921 to work in the Seiyukai Party, a political party which he came to lead in 1925. He was later awarded the title of Baron.

Prime Ministry

Tanaka became Prime Minister in 1927, serving simultaneously as the Foreign Affairs Minister. In office, he continued the aggressive policy he began as a military officer in China, including a military intervention in Shandong in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent Chiang Kai-shek from unifying China. He and his cabinet attempted to suppress radicals on the home front and defrauded elections to extend their time in power.

Tanaka came into office even as forces were already beginning to converge that would draw Japan into World War II. Tremendous power rested in the hands of a little-known official named Kaku Mori who became Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs. Mori was a civilian but had extensive ties to two of Japan's ultranationalist secret societies: the Zaibatsu and Kantogun radicals. Tanaka, with influence from Mori and his cohorts, announced new interventionist policies concerning Manchuria and Mongolia. In 1929, the machinations of Mori and the Kwantung Army resulted in a crisis: the Japanese-backed assassination the Manchurian warlord Chang Tso-lin and the seizure of Manchuria. At the same time, Tanaka signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact "in the name of the people," but was criticized for infringing upon the sovereignty of the Emperor. The two events caused an uproar that forced Tanaka to resign and be succeeded by Hamaguchi Osachi. He died a few months later.

The Tanaka Memorial

In 1931, China accused Tanaka of having authored the 1927 "Tanaka Memorial" Imperialist Conquest Plan, which advocated the conquest of Manchuria, Mongolia, and eventually the whole of China. He was alleged to have presented the plan to the Emperor in 1927. The Japanese government claimed that this document was a forgery, and modern historians generally accept that it truly was forged — however prophetic the content may have been.