Toshio Shiratori
show This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in Japanese. (January 2016) Click [show] for important translation instructions. |
Toshio Shiratori 白鳥 敏夫 | |
---|---|
Born | Chiba Prefecture, Japan | June 8, 1887
Died | June 3, 1949 Tokyo, Japan | (aged 61)
Nationality | Japanese |
Occupation | Ambassador, Adviser to foreign minister |
Toshio Shiratori (白鳥 敏夫, Shiratori Toshio, June 8, 1887 – June 3, 1949) was the Japanese ambassador to Italy from 1938 to 1940, adviser to the Japanese foreign minister in 1940 and one of the 14 Class-A war criminals enshrined at Yasukuni.
Shiratori served as Director of Information Bureau under the Foreign Ministry from 1929 to 1933. He served as Ambassador to Sweden and non-resident Ambassador to Finland from 1933 to 1936, the Grand Cross of the Royal Swedish Order of the Polar Star granted to him in 1939. He was appointed ambassador to Italy, serving from 1938 to 1940, and became adviser to foreign minister Yōsuke Matsuoka in 1940. He was an advocate of military expansionism, counseling an alliance between Nazi Germany, Italy and Japan to facilitate world domination. On 23rd May, 1942, the Italian Foreign Minister Count Galeazzo Ciano wrote in his diary that Shiratori had said that the 'dominion of the world belongs to Japan, the Mikado is the only god on earth, and that both Hitler and Mussolini must become resigned to this reality.'
Shiratori was found guilty of conspiring to wage aggressive war by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in November 1948 and sentenced to life imprisonment.[1] He died in prison of laryngeal cancer in 1949.
On October 17, 1978 Shiratori was one of fourteen Class-A war criminals controversially enshrined at Yasukuni Shrine.[2] A memo from Emperor Hirohito, disclosed in 2006, revealed that he stopped visiting Yasukuni Shrine from 1978 until his death in 1989, because "they even enshrined Matsuoka and Shiratori."[3]
See also[]
- List of Ambassadors of Japan to Finland
References[]
- ^ "IMTFE Judgement". Retrieved January 23, 2012.
- ^ "The 14 Class-A War Criminals Enshrined at Yasukuni". July 19, 2005. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
- ^ "When Emperor Showa spoke from the heart in his memo". July 24, 2006. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Toshio Shiratori |
- 1887 births
- 1949 deaths
- People convicted by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East
- Ambassadors of Japan to Italy
- Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by international courts and tribunals
- Japanese prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment
- Japanese people convicted of the international crime of aggression
- Japanese people who died in prison custody
- People from Chiba Prefecture
- Members of the House of Representatives (Empire of Japan)
- Ambassadors of Japan to Sweden
- Ambassadors of Japan to Finland
- Japanese people convicted of war crimes
- University of Tokyo alumni
- Japanese politicians convicted of crimes