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. Nicknamed Ugaki Issei, he served as Foreign Minister of Japan in the Konoe cabinet in 1938.
Biography
Military career
Ugaki was the fifth son of an impoverished farming family in Ochi village, Bizen Province (currently the town of Seto, Okayama). He excelled in all studies, and passed a teacher recruitment examination. He 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. He graduated in 1891 ranked 11th out of a class of 150. In 1900, he graduated from the Army Staff College, ranked 3rd out of a class of 39 and was awarded a sword of merit. He became a protege of General Kawakami Soroku as a captain and was sent as military attaché to Germany from 1902 to 1904, and again from 1906 to 1907. Ugaki also was a protege of general Tanaka Giichi, under whom he was promoted to colonel in 1910 and major general in 1915. He was chief of the 1st Bureau of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff in 1916 and was promoted to Lieutenant General in 1919. He 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. From October 1923, he served as Vice Minister of the Army.
Army Minister and Governor-General of Korea
In January 1924, Ugaki was appointed Army Minister by Prime Minister Keigo Kiyoura. He continued in this post in the Katō Takaaki and the first Reijirō Wakatsuki cabinets until April 1927. The political machinations of the Rikken Seiyukai political party and his mentor, Tanaka Giichi, were behind his appointment. 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". Ugaki's plans called for an Army of 50 divisions. Nevertheless, despite Ugaki's strenuous opposition, the Katō Takaaki cabinet continued with its fiscal retrenchment policy (from May 1925) and Ugaki was forced to eliminate four infantry divisions (the IJA 13th Division, IJA 15th Division, IJA 17th Division, and IJA 18th Division), which resulted in the release of approximately 2,000 commissioned officers. He was also forced to shorten the period of time conscripts served with the remaining divisions and to force many senior officers into early retirement. The fact that the monies saved by these policies were used to implement much-needed modernization of military equipment and training had little impact on Ugaki's extremely unpopularity within the Army, and in 1927 Ugaki accepted a posting as Governor-General of Korea from April 1927 rather than continue as Army Minister.
Ugaki's first term as Governor-General of Korea was only until December 1927.
In 1929, Ugaki was promoted to full general. Under Prime Minister Hamaguchi Osachi, he agreed to return as Army Minister in July 1929. However, the failure of Hamaguchi's economic policies after the start of the Great Depression and his push for demilitarization with the London Naval Treaty of 1930 enraged right-wing ultranationists. In 1931, although Ugaki refused to cooperate with them, he also 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. Having lost the support of his fellow officers, Ugaki resigned from the military in April 1931 and once again accepted a posting as Governor-General of Korea.
During his second period in Korea, from June 1931 to August 1936, Ugaki made concentrated efforts to build up the industrial base in the Korean peninsula, especially in the areas of heavy industry and munitions, which he felt would be invaluable in an upcoming war with China, which he considered unavoidable in the near future. He also promoted a policy of reconciliation which was in stark contrast to the more repressive regimes before and after his administration.