1. Kazushige Ugaki was a Japanese general in the Imperial Japanese Army and cabinet minister before World War II, the 5th principal of Takushoku University, and twice Governor-General of Korea.
23 Facts About Kazushige Ugaki
1. 2.
Kazushige Ugaki was the fifth son of an impoverished farming family in Ochi village, Bizen Province.
3.
Kazushige Ugaki excelled in all studies, and passed a teacher recruitment examination.
4.
Kazushige Ugaki worked as an elementary school teacher in his teens, moved to Tokyo, and managed to secure a position at the first class of the reformed Imperial Japanese Army Academy.
5.
Kazushige Ugaki graduated in 1891 ranked 11th out of a class of 150.
6.
Kazushige Ugaki became a protege of General Kawakami Soroku as a captain and was sent as military attache to Germany from 1902 to 1904, and again from 1906 to 1907.
7.
Kazushige Ugaki was a protege of general Tanaka Giichi, under whom he was promoted to colonel in 1910 and major general in 1915.
8.
Kazushige Ugaki was chief of the 1st Bureau of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff in 1916 and was promoted to Lieutenant General in 1919.
9.
Kazushige Ugaki served as commandant of the Army Staff College from 1919 to 1921 and became commander of the Himeji-based IJA 10th Division from March 1921 to May 1922.
10.
In January 1924, Kazushige Ugaki was appointed Army Minister by Prime Minister Keigo Kiyoura.
11.
Kazushige Ugaki continued in this post in the Kato Takaaki and the first Reijiro Wakatsuki cabinets until April 1927.
12.
Kazushige Ugaki strove to protect the superior position of the Imperial Japanese Army in Japanese politics, fearing a loss of influence to the Imperial Japanese Navy, should the United States be judged "Hypothetical National Enemy No 1".
13.
Kazushige Ugaki was forced to shorten the period of time conscripts served with the remaining divisions and to force many senior officers into early retirement.
14.
In 1931, although Kazushige Ugaki refused to cooperate with them, he failed to punish the insurgents responsible for the March Incident, an attempted coup-d'etat by young officers of the Sakurakai who sought to make him Prime Minister.
15.
Kazushige Ugaki promoted a policy of reconciliation which was in stark contrast to the more repressive regimes before and after his administration.
16.
Kazushige Ugaki was highly regarded by Saionji Kinmochi and was perceived as having a moderate foreign policy and being opposed to the increasingly fascistic trends within the military.
17.
In May 1938, Kazushige Ugaki accepted the post of Foreign Minister under the first Konoe administration, simultaneously holding the portfolio of Minister of Colonial Affairs, but resigned after only four months.
18.
Kazushige Ugaki had been requested by Konoe for assistance to negotiate a peace settlement with the Republic of China following the Marco Polo Bridge incident to avoid an all-out war.
19.
Konoe wavered between positions and finally sided with the military, and Kazushige Ugaki resigned in protest.
20.
In 1944, Kazushige Ugaki left politics and accepted the post of president of Takushoku University, which he held throughout the remainder of the war years.
21.
Kazushige Ugaki was the center of a movement which supported a quick end to World War II, and from 1943 was active in efforts to oust Prime Minister Hideki Tojo from office.
22.
In 1953, Kazushige Ugaki ran for public office on a national ticket and was elected to the House of Councillors in the post-war Diet of Japan with an overwhelming vote.
23.
Kazushige Ugaki died in 1956 at his summer villa in Izunokuni, Shizuoka.