born Oct. 12, 1891, Tokyo, Japan
died Dec. 16, 1945, Tokyo
Political leader and prime minister of Japan (193739, 194041), who tried unsuccessfully to restrict the power of the military and to keep Japan's war with China from widening into a world conflict.
In 1941 he signed a nonaggression pact with the Soviet Union and participated in U.S.-mediated negotiations to try to resolve the conflict with China. Later that year he resigned over differences with T 014D; j 014D; Hideki . During the war he was forced to leave the centre of politics; afterward he was a deputy minister in the Higashikuni cabinet. He committed suicide after being served an arrest warrant on suspicion of being a war criminal.