Yosuke Matsuoka

Born in Japan in Yamaguchi prefecture in 3 March 1880, Yōsuke Matsuoka traveled to the United States with a cousin in 1893, and settled in Portland, Oregon. He lived at first at the Methodist Mission, then was taken in at the household of the widower William Dunbar, which included Dunbar's son Lambert, and Dunbar's sister, Mrs. Isabelle Dunbar Beveridge. Mrs. Beveridge served as a foster mother to Matsuoka and helped him adjust to American society. Matsuoka's affection for her lasted well after he returned to Japan. She died in 1906. Matsuoka enrolled at Portland's Atkinson Grammar School (which still exists as Atkinson Elementary School, was raised as a Christian by the Dunbar family,and took on the name of Frank Matsuoka. He moved to Oakland, California, with his older brother Kensuke attended Oakland High School for 18 months in Oakland, California, then returned to Portland and studied law, paying his way by various odd jobs, including busboy, door-to-door salesman (of coffee) and interpreter for a Japanese contractor. Matsuoka graduated from the University of Oregon law school in 1900. During his time in America he was a fervent Christian who attended Bible sessions at his high school and claimed to have met the American Populist William Jennings Bryan. Matsuoka returned to Japan in 1902. He passed Japan's foreign service examinations and joined the foreign service, and within two years was vice-consul at the consulate in Shanghai. Over the next 18 years he advanced quickly through the ranks of diplomats. Matsuoka gained international notoriety in 1933 when he announced Japan's departure from the League of Nations after the League’s criticism of Japan's operations in Manchuria, and led the Japanese delegation out of the League's assembly hall. After leaving the foreign service, Matsuoka went to occupied Manchukuo and became President of the South Manchurian Railroad, at which time he worked closely with Hideki Tojo (then serving as chief of the Kwantung Army's secret police). In 1940, Matsuoka became Minister of Foreign Affairs under Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe, strongly opposed by Kiichiro Hiranuma. Matsuoka was a major advocate of a Japanese alliance with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, whose assistance he saw as a perfect balancing force against the United States, and as such was one of the primary orchestrators of the Tripartite Pact in 1940. On December 31, 1940, Yosuke told a group of Jewish businessmen that he was "the man responsible for the alliance with Hitler, but nowhere have I promised that we would carry out his anti-Semitic policies in Japan. This is not simply my personal opinion, it is the opinion of Japan, and I have no compunction about announcing it to the world." Matsuoka also signed a Russo-Japanese non-aggression treaty in April 1941. However, after Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, Hitler proposed to Matsuoka that Japan take part in the attack as well. Matsuoka became a fervent supporter of the idea of a Japanese attack on Russian lands, and constantly pressured Konoe and the leaders of the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy to mobilize the military for that purpose. In the end, both the army and the navy as well as Konoe decided to concentrate military efforts on targets south of Japan. Despite the military's opposition to his ideas, Matsuoka continued to loudly advocate an invasion of Russia and became increasingly reckless in his diplomatic dealings with the United States, which he believed was conspiring to provoke Japan into a war. Matsuoka's hostility towards the U.S. (a vocal opponent of Japan's military campaigns) alarmed Konoe, who wanted to avoid war with the United States. Konoe and the military hierarchy colluded to get rid of Matsuoka. To this end, Konoe resigned in July 1941 and his cabinet ministers resigned with him, including Matsuoka. Konoe immediately was made prime minister again, and replaced Matsuoka as Foreign Minister with Admiral Teijiro Toyoda. Matsuoka subsequently drifted into obscurity. Captured by the Allies in 1945 and brought up on war crimes charges by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, the former Oregon resident died in 1946 before his trial was completed.