Matsuoka, Yosuke

Matsuoka, Yosuke

(yōso͞o`kē mätso͞o`ōkä), 1880–1946, Japanese statesman and diplomat. After graduating from the Univ. of Oregon, he served briefly in the foreign ministry and then entered the South Manchurian RailwaySouth Manchurian Railway,
Japanese-developed enterprise, with a trackage of 701 mi (1128 km). The line from Changchun to Lüshun (Port Arthur), originally belonging to the Russian-built Chinese Eastern Railway, was part of Japan's indemnity in the Russo-Japanese War
..... Click the link for more information.  Company (1921). He became a spokesman for the expansionist Japanese policy and led the Japanese delegation out of the League of Nations in 1933. He was appointed president of the South Manchurian RR in 1935. As foreign minister (1940–41) in the second KonoyeKonoye, Fumimaro
, 1891–1945, Japanese statesman. He was a scion of the ancient Fujiwara noble family. In June, 1937, he accepted the premiership. A former liberal, he now favored increased armament and centralized government control.
..... Click the link for more information.  cabinet he promoted the Japanese alliance with the fascist powers, helped forge the Pact of Berlin (Sept. 27, 1940), and early in 1941 signed a five-year peace pact with the USSR. After the German attack on Russia (June, 1941) he left the cabinet. Matsuoka was indicted as a war criminal after World War II but died before his trial ended.

Matsuoka, Yosuke

 

Born Mar. 3, 1880, in Yamaguchi Prefecture; died June 27, 1946, in Tokyo. Japanese state figure and diplomat.

Matsuoka became an executive with the South Manchurian Railroad in 1921 and became its president in 1935. As minister of foreign affairs in 1940-41 he was instrumental in concluding a triple pact between Germany, Italy, and Japan on Sept. 27, 1940. He signed a Soviet-Japanese neutrality pact on Apr. 13, 1941. From the time of Germany’s attack on the USSR (1941), Matsuoka urged that Japan immediately declare war on the USSR. After Japan’s defeat in World War II (1939-45), Matsuoka was handed over to the International Military Tribunal for the Far East as a chief war criminal. He died before the end of the trial.