OUR GREATER EAST ASIA MINISTER AOKI
By TATSU-I'CHI HACHIYAMA
THE inauguration of the new Ministry for Greater East Asia Affairs is of fundamental significance, for by this step Japan has definitely paved the way for the successful construction of the envisaged mutual prosperity sphere in this part of the world. Kazuo Aoki, a capable statesman, has been appointed its chief. His selection as Minister for Greater East Asia Affairs was anticipated by well-informed circles when some time back he joined the Tohjo Cabinet as Minister without portfolio. On November 1 this new office was formally opened, and Minister Aoki in a press statement explained the remarkable rôle it would play in streamlining Japan's relations with all the countries of greater East Asia.
As the new ministry is expected to function in co-operation with the fighting services on the one hand and the various departments of the Government on the other, it is destined to become the propellent force of the new regional life in the southern countries. When the formation of this office was announced by the Tohjo Cabinet, it immediately decided that it should be headed by a statesman of distinguished ability. Consequently, its choice fell on Kazuo Aoki, who has contributed immensely to the growth of the reformed political and economic orders in East Asia. There is no doubt that he is a front-rank statesman on whom the nation can rely to carry out an epochal assignment.
Though our first Greater East Asia Minister does not possess an imposing exterior and wears a pair of black-rimmed spectacles, he nevertheless has a thoughtful appearance and an
energetic bearing. He knows how to accomplish a difficult task and his chief secrets of success are perseverance, clear thinking and deep planning. Therefore, few statesmen in Japan can rival him in constructive efforts. He is popular with the fighting services, too. Being a man of sound economic principle, he regards economic well-being as the mainstay of national flourish and virility.
Kazuo Aoki, who was born in the village of Makisato in the Sarashina district, Nagano Prefecture, is now fifty-four years old. After graduating from the German law section of the Tokyo Imperial University at the top of his class, he joined the Finance Ministry. Showing proficiency in financial and economic matters, he steadily rose to become a constructive statesman, and subsequently displayed his realistic genius by shaping the new course of economic life in this country. When he was a sectional chief in the Bureau of Economy of the National Treasury in the Finance Ministry, he drafted the Law for the Prevention of the Flight of Capital and also the Law for the Control of Foreign Exchanges. The last one was enacted as a logical sequel to the first. Then with the setting up of the Bureau of Foreign Exchanges Control, he was appointed its first director.
During the tenure of Nobusada Fuji as Finance Minister, Kazuo Aoki was director of the Bureau of Economy. At that time he came into official touch with Okinori Kaya, present Finance Minister, who was then director of the Bureau of Accounts, and Sohtaro Ishiwata, then director of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, who has been appointed chief economic adviser to the Nanking Government—a post which the new Greater East Asia Minister held until he joined the Tohjo Cabinet as Minister without portfolio. This earlier contact between them has been kept up to this day. And now that the three men are holding three key positions, the future economic rehabilitation of greater East Asia appears to be assured.
When Ei-ichi Baba assumed the post of Finance Minister, the influence of the teamwork between Kazuo Aoki, Okinori
Kaya and Sohtaro Ishiwata was considerably reduced, but with the appointment of Toyotaro Yuki as Finance Minister, who is now the Governor of the Bank of Japan, it regained its former strength, eventually attaing [sic] crystallization during the Finance Ministership of Seihin Ikéda, present member of the Privy Council. Therefore, it is no wonder that Kazuo Aoki, Okinori Kaya and Sohtaro Ishiwata each in turn held the portfolio of Finance subsequently.
In March, 1936, Kazuo Aoki was appointed Vice-President of the Manchurian Affairs Board in place of Takéo Kawagoyé, now Governor of the Tohoku Development Company. While serving in this new post, he beeame [sic] intimate with the officials of the War Office and also made a systematic study of the diverse problems affecting East Asia. In October, the following year, when the Planning Board was organized, he was offered the post of its Vice-President. In January, 1939, during the term of the Hiranuma Ministry, he was made the President of the Planning Board in succession to Masao Taki. After the resignation of the Hiranuma Ministry, he was nominated by His Majesty the Emperor a memmber [sic] of the House of Peers.
Toward the end of August, 1939, when the Abé Cabinet was formed, he was offered the portfolio of Finance, concurrently retaining the presidency of the Planning Board. It is noteworthy that he has never served the Finance Office as its Vice-Minister. Because he showed his ability as an expert statesman as Vice-President and later as President of the Planning Board, the question of appointing him as Vice-Minister of Finance did not arise. How effective was his planning can be gathered from the fact that he succeeded in establishing co-ordination between the Government and the High Command, thereby making a substantial contribution to the operation of control economy in Japan. Perhaps his signal achievement in executing control economy and placing Japan on a total war footing induced Premier Tohjo to select him as the first Greater East Asia Minister.
In May, 1940, shortly after his retirement from the Government service, Kazuo Aoki was chosen by General Nobuyuki Abé, then special envoy to the Nanking Government, as his economic adviser. In that capacity he assisted General Abé in drafting the basic treaty with Nanking, paying particular attention to the economic side of the agreement. In March, 1941, he was selected by Yoh-suké Matsuoka, then Foreign Minister, as adviser to the Foreign Office specifically to assist the then Ambassador to Nanking Kumataro Honda. Then as chief economic adviser to Nanking, he was instrumental in strengthening the financial fabric of the Wang Ching-wei administration. Moreover, sometimes assisting and sometimes guiding Chou Fo-hai, Finance Minister of the Nanking Government, he directed the establishment of the Central Reserve Bank, facilitated the conclusion of a loan agreement with the Japanese Government and evolved a new currency system for new China. Thus he played the same part which Sir Frederick Leith-Ross had played earlier as British economic adviser to the Chiang Kai-shek Government.
Our Greater East Asia Minister's main strong point is his tenacity of purpose, which is also a general trait of the people of Nagano Prefecture from which he hails. That he is bynature [sic] a determined man is evidenced from the fact that he remained at the top of his class from the elementary school to the university, and that as an official of the Finance Ministry he took the credit of perfecting the emergency economic structure of the nation. His steady and serious habit has fostered in him a strong sense of self-confidence, indeed so much so that he feels quite at ease to tackle any difficult proposition.
Kazuo Aoki's characteristic grimness is well reflected in his hobbies which consist in playing go and golf. He has been a go enthusiast from his middle school days. When he entered the service of the Finance Ministry, he kept up his habit of playing go, ultimately becoming the champion go player of the Finance Office. In recognition of his skill, the Nippon Ki-in (Japan Go Players' Association) has awarded him the rank of second
grade go player. On the other hand, as a golfer he has been a member of the Kasumigaséki Country Club since 1929. He was one of its directors until two years ago. His style is said to be not so good, but his ability as a golf player is acknowledged as that of a professional. The reception room at his house is adorned with some thirty trophies which he has won in various golf tournaments. Through *go*he [sic] came into closer contacts with Baron Hiranuma and through golf he became a friend of Prince Konoye.
Minister Aoki, who enjoys a robust health, has recently become so engrossed in his new duties that he finds very little time to play go and golf. He spent an eventful life in his youth. When his father lost his profitable lumber business, it seemed that he would have to give up the idea of entering a middle school course owing to lack of money. Fortunately, however, his schoolmaster prevailed on his father to send in an application for admission to the Nagano Middle School just before the list was due to be closed. But the application did not reach the school authorities in time. Luckily, the sympathetic clerk of the school accepted the application overriding the objection of the principal on the ground that it had reached the school on the very day the admission list was scheduled to be closed. But for the clerk's kindness, young Aoki might have been unable to receive a middle school education and might have not blossomed into a front-rank statesman of Japan.
As soon as Kazuo Aoki was admitted into the Nagano Middle School, he diligently applied himself to the study of all prescribed lessons, and so he easily graduated from it at the head of his class. While attending the school, he used to return home every Saturday from the dormitory to help his poor parents. Working in the farm every Sunday or helping his father and mother by drawing water or doing other household work, he used to rise at three o'clock every Monday morning to walk a distance of forty kilometres back to the school. Later on, when he stayed at the house of his uncle in Nagano city, there, too, he cheerfully performed all kinds of
household work.
On his graduation from the Nagano Middle School he could not afford to enter the higher school. So he took up teaching at a village elementary school for a few years to save money for his higher school education. In this manner, he finished his higher school course and took admission into the Tokyo Imperial University. He was able to prosecute his university studies because he was given a scholarship by the Mitsui business interests from their scholarship funds under the Finance Office. Okinori Kaya, was also grated [sic] a scholarship by them at that time to help him complete his university term.
Minister Aoki has a sympathetic mind. He is especially sympathetic and considerate toward his subordinates and is kind to the people hailing from his native province. The Nagano people consider him a model gentleman. Because his past official career had been spent in dealing with dry figures and because he has risen to become a front-rank statesman by exhibiting his skill in solving complex economic problems, certain quarters are inclined to characterize him as a technical man. Be that as it may, it is equally true that he is thoroughly capable of undertaking outstanding administrative schemes. His appointment as first Minister for Greater East Asia Affairs lucidly indicates that he has been entrusted with the epochal task of organizing a new political and econmic [sic] order in the southern countries in consonance with our national policy of regional harmony. Judging from his contributions toward the sound progress of the Nanking Government, it can be said that he is the best suited person to make the construction of a co-prosperity sphere in greater East Asia an accomplished fact.