A diplomat who drove imperial Japan's continental diplomacy
When Matsuoka left Moscow in April 1941, Stalin himself came to the station to see him off.
Yosuke Matsuoka was a diplomat and politician of imperial Japan whose career joined continental expansion after the Manchurian Incident to the country's growing international isolation. He defended Manchukuo at the League of Nations, helping lead Japan out of the organization, then became president of the South Manchuria Railway and foreign minister. In 1941 he pursued both the alliance with Germany and Italy and the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact with Molotov, but fell from office after advocating war against the Soviet Union following Germany's invasion. Detained after the war as a suspected war criminal, he died of illness during the trial before judgment.
Career Timeline
- 1904Passed the diplomatic service examination and entered the Foreign Ministry
- 1919Staff member of Japan's delegation to the Paris Peace Conference
- 1922–1930Director of the South Manchuria Railway, vice-president from 1927
- 1933Chief plenipotentiary at the League of Nations, announcing Japan's withdrawal
- 1935–1939President of the South Manchuria Railway
- 1940–1941Foreign minister in the second Konoe cabinet, promoting the Tripartite Pact
- 1941Signed the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact with Molotov
- 1941Removed as foreign minister when the third Konoe cabinet was formed