1. Baron Akashi Motojiro was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army and the 7th Governor-General of Taiwan from 6 June 1918 to 26 October 1919.
18 Facts About Akashi Motojiro
1. 2.
Akashi Motojiro was known for his talents as a poet and as a painter, interests that he shared with fellow spy and close friend General Fukushima Yasumasa.
3.
Narrowly escaping capture and assassination by the Ochrana several times even before the start of the war, Akashi Motojiro relocated to Helsinki in late 1904.
4.
Akashi Motojiro traveled extensively to Stockholm, Warsaw, Geneva, Lisbon, Paris, Rome, Copenhagen, Zurich, and even Irkutsk.
5.
Akashi Motojiro helped funnel funds and arms to selected groups of Russian anarchists, secessionists in Finland and Poland, and disaffected Moslem groups in the Crimea and Russian Turkestan.
6.
Akashi Motojiro met with Konni Zilliacus in Stockholm as well as Lenin, then in exile in Switzerland.
7.
General Yamagata Aritomo reported to Emperor Meiji that Colonel Akashi Motojiro was worth "more than 10 divisions of troops in Manchuria" toward Japan winning the war.
8.
Akashi Motojiro was promoted to lieutenant general at the age of 49.
9.
Akashi Motojiro got Korea Colonization Decoration for his merits in Korea on 1 August 1912.
10.
In 1918, Akashi Motojiro was promoted to general and appointed by Prime Minister Terauchi as the Governor-General of Taiwan.
11.
Akashi Motojiro received the title of danshaku under the kazoku peerage system.
12.
Akashi Motojiro built concrete pipes to introduce water from the nearby Muddy Water River, and built a huge dam with water siphoned from the river.
13.
Akashi Motojiro fell ill and died a little over a year after taking office while visiting his home in Fukuoka, becoming the only Governor-General of Taiwan to die in office.
14.
Akashi Motojiro was buried at the Sanbanqiao cemetery in Taihoku, becoming the only Japanese Governor-General to be buried in Taiwan.
15.
The Taiwanese donated money equivalent to roughly three million modern-day US dollars for construction of a memorial, and support fund for his family, because Akashi Motojiro himself was too clean to leave anything behind.
16.
Akashi Motojiro's remains were exhumed in 1999 and re-interred at the Fuyin Mountain Christian Cemetery in Sanzhi Township, Taipei County.
17.
Akashi Motojiro's death has spawned a massive number of conspiracy theories.
18.
The flamboyant exploits of "Colonel Akashi Motojiro" have been the subject of countless novels, manga, movies and documentary programs in Japan, where he has been dubbed the "Japanese James Bond".