Mamoru Shigemitsu | |
---|---|
重光 葵 | |
Deputy Prime Minister of Japan | |
In office 10 December 1954 – 23 December 1956 |
|
Prime Minister | Ichirō Hatoyama |
Preceded by | Taketora Ogata |
Succeeded by | Mitsujiro Ishii |
Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
In office 10 December 1954 – 23 December 1956 |
|
Prime Minister | Ichirō Hatoyama |
Preceded by | Shigenori Togo |
Succeeded by | Shigeru Yoshida |
In office 17 August 1945 – 15 September 1945 |
|
Prime Minister | Naruhiko Higashikuni |
Preceded by | Shigenori Togo |
Succeeded by | Shigeru Yoshida |
Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
In office 20 April 1943 – 22 July 1944 |
|
Prime Minister | Hideki Tojo |
Preceded by | Masayuki Tani |
Succeeded by | Kantaro Suzuki |
Personal details | |
Born | July 29, 1887 Bungo-ōno, Ōita, Japan |
Died | January 26, 1957 Yugawara, Kanagawa, Japan |
(aged 69)
Alma mater | Tokyo Imperial University |
Mamoru Shigemitsu (重光 葵 Shigemitsu Mamoru?, July 29, 1887 – January 26, 1957) was a Japanese diplomat and politician in the Empire of Japan, who served as the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs at the end of World War II and later, as the Deputy Prime Minister of Japan.
Shigemitsu was born in what is now part of the city of Bungo-ōno, Ōita Prefecture, Japan. He graduated from the Law School of Tokyo Imperial University in 1907. After World War I, he served in numerous overseas diplomatic assignments, including Germany, the United Kingdom, and briefly as consul at the Japanese consulate in Seattle, Washington in the United States. Following the Mukden Incident, Shigemitsu was active at various European capitals attempting to reduce alarm at Japanese military activities in Manchuria. During the First Shanghai Incident of 1932, he was successful in enlisting the aid of western nations in brokering a cease-fire between the Kuomintang Army and the Imperial Japanese Army. On April 29, 1932, while attending a celebration for the birthday of Emperor Hirohito in Shanghai, a Korean independence activist, Yoon Bong-Gil threw a bomb at a reviewing stand killing General Yoshinori Shirakawa and wounding several others, including Shigemitsu. Shigemitsu lost his right leg in the attack, and walked with an artificial leg and cane for the rest of his life.