Everything about Kenkichi Yoshizawa totally explained
was a diplomat in the
Empire of Japan, serving as 46th
Foreign Minister of Japan in 1932.
Biography
Yoshizawa was a native of what is now part of
Joetsu city,
Niigata prefecture. He was a graduate of the
English literature department of
Tokyo University and entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1899. He was assigned to the Japanese
consulate in
Amoy,
China in 1902, and later to the consulate in
Shanghai.
In 1905, Yoshizawa married the eldest daughter of politician (and future Prime Minister)
Tsuyoshi Inukai, and moved to
London. He continued to live in
England for the next several years, eventually becoming First Secretary to the Japanese embassy. He was given the post of Consul-General in
Hankou, China in 1912.
Yoshizawa served as Minister to China from 1923-1929, and was stationed at the Japanese consulates at
Beijing and
Tianjin. He met with
Soviet Foreign Minister Lev Karakhan in Beijing in 1925 for talks which led to the formal establishment of
diplomatic relations between Japan and the
Soviet Union per the
Soviet-Japanese Basic Convention.
Yoshizawa later served as Japanese ambassador to
France and official representative to the
League of Nations.
He was appointed to the cabinet of
Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi as Foreign Minister from
1932-01-14 to
1932-05-26. On receiving word of his appointment, Yoshizawa traveled from Europe back to Japan via the
Trans-Siberian Railway and
Manchuria to see conditions first-hand. Following the assassination of Inukai in the
May 15 Incident, the Inukai cabinet was dissolved. However, Yoshizawa received an appointment to the
House of Peers by command of
Emperor Hirohito, and joined the
Rikken Seiyūkai political party.
In the period immediately prior to the start of the
Pacific War, Yoshizawa was appointed as a special envoy by Prime Minister
Fumimaro Konoe to the
Netherlands East Indies following the diplomatic mission of
Ichizo Kobayashi. Yoshizawa was assigned to present a new set of demands on the Dutch government in
Batavia, which were deliberately intended to be unacceptable.
- Adherence to Japans vision and policy in South East Asia,
- Unrestricted rights to explore and exploit minerals all over the Dutch East Indies
- Unrestricted fishing and shipping rights in all the waters of the Dutch East Indies
- Unrestricted rights to start all sorts of commercial enterprises
- Japans export to the DEI must be increased to more than 80% of all imports of the Dutch East Indies
- The existing demand for oil was slightly increased to 3,800,000 tons
- The Dutch East Indies was to supply Japan with 1,000,000 tons of tin, 400,000 tons of bauxite, 180,000 tons of nickel, 30,000 tons of rubber, 30,000 tons of coconut oil and 10,000 tons of sugar.
- Airline and telegraph connections between Japan and the Dutch East Indies
In December 1940, Yoshizawa was met by
Hubertus Johannes van Mook, deputy minister of Economic Affairs,
K. L. J. Enthoven, director of Justice, and
Hoessein Djajadiningrat, director of Education and Religion. The negotiations dragged on unsuccessfully, and Yoshizawa suddenly announced his plan to depart and asked to be received by the Dutch Governor-General
A. W. L. Tjarda van Starkenborgh Stachouwer on
1941-06-17. The latter was worried that he might receive a
declaration of war, but to his relief Yoshizawa only handed him a draft declaration stating that the negotiations had ended without an agreement.
From 1941-1944, Yoshizawa served as Japanese ambassador to
French Indochina. The posting was mostly symbolic, as by then mostly under Japanese military occupation. In August 1945, he became a member of the
Privy Council.
After the end of
World War II,Yoshizawa was purged from public office by the
American occupation authorities. In post-war Japan, he was appointed as Japanese ambassador to the
Republic of China on
Taiwan in 1952. He retired from public life in December 1956.
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