Shigenori Tōgō
| Shigenori Tōgō 東郷茂徳 |
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|---|---|
Tōgō Shigenori
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| Born |
December 10, 1882 Hioki, Kagoshima, Japan |
| Died | July 23, 1950 (aged 67) Tokyo, Japan |
| Nationality | Japan |
| Occupation | Diplomat, Politician, Cabinet Minister |
Shigenori Tōgō (東郷 茂徳 Tōgō Shigenori?) (Korean: 박무덕, Hanja: 朴茂德, Pak Mudǒk, 10 December 1882 – 23 July 1950) was Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Empire of Japan at both the start and the end of the Japanese-Allied conflict during World War II. He also served as Minister of Colonial Affairs in 1941, and assumed the same position, renamed the Minister for Greater East Asia, in 1945.
Tōgō was born in Hioki District, Kagoshima, in what is now part of the city of Hioki, Kagoshima. He was a graduate of the Literature Department of Tokyo Imperial University in 1904, and subsequently studied the German language at Meiji University. He entered the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1912, after applying for a post five times.
Tōgō’s first overseas posting was to the Japanese consulate at Mukden, in Manchuria in 1913. In 1916, he was assigned to the Japanese embassy in Bern, Switzerland. In 1919, Tōgō was sent on a diplomatic mission to Weimar Germany, as diplomatic relations between the two countries were reestablished following the Japanese ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. He returned to Japan in 1921 and was assigned to the Bureau of North American affairs. In 1922, despite the strenuous objections of Tōgō’s family, he married a German woman, the widow of noted architect George de Lalande who has designed numerous buildings in Japan and its empire, including the Japanese General Government Building in Seoul. The wedding was held in the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. In 1926, Tōgō was appointed as secretary to the Japanese embassy in United States, and moved to Washington DC. He returned to Japan in 1929, and after a brief stay in Manchuria, was sent back to Germany. He was the head of the Japanese delegation to the largely unsuccessful World Disarmament Conference held in Geneva in 1932. Tōgō returned to Japan in 1933 to assume the post of director of the Bureau of North American affairs, but was in a severe automobile accident which left him hospitalized for over a month.
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