Hideki Tojo

Hideki Tojo was born on December 30, 1884, in Tokyo, Japan, to a relatively low-ranking former samurai family. He graduated from the Japanese military academy in 1905 and rose through the ranks of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). He served in various posts, including in Siberia, Germany, and China. He became a leader of the militarist faction that advocated expansionism and aggression in Asia. He was appointed as the Minister of War in 1940 and became the Prime Minister of Japan in 1941. He was the main architect of the attack on Pearl Harbor, which brought the United States into World War II. He also oversaw Japan's involvement in the Pacific War, which resulted in many atrocities against civilians and prisoners of war in China, Korea, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere. He was a staunch supporter of the Axis powers and refused to surrender even after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He resigned as Prime Minister in 1944 and attempted suicide after Japan's surrender in 1945, but was captured and revived by American forces. He was tried by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East for war crimes and sentenced to death. He was executed by hanging on December 23, 1948, in Tokyo. He accepted full responsibility for his actions and expressed remorse for the suffering he caused. He was also posthumously enshrined at the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan's war dead and is considered controversial by many Asian countries.