Hideki Tojo-
(Kyūjitai: 東條 英機; Shinjitai: 東条 英機; Tōjō Hideki (help·info)) (December 30, 1884 – December 23, 1948) was a General in the Imperial Japanese Army and the 40th Prime Minister of Japan; he served as prime minister during much of World War II, from October 18, 1941 to July 22, 1944. He was sentenced to death for war crimes after the war and executed by hanging.
Tōjō is often considered responsible for authorizing the murder of more than 8 million civilians in China, Korea, the Philippines, Indochina, and other Pacific island nations, as well tens of thousands of Allied POWs. Tojo is also implicated in government-sanctioned experiments on POWs and Chinese civilians (see Unit 731). Like his German colleagues, Tōjō often claimed to be carrying out the orders of the Emperor, who was granted immunity from war crimes prosecution. The culpability of the Showa Emperor himself is a subject of some controversy.
Tōjō's commemorating tomb is located in a shrine in Hazu, Aichi, and he is one of those enshrined at the controversial Yasukuni Shrine. He was survived by a number of his descendants, including his granddaughter, Yuko Tōjō, a right-wing activist who claimed Japan's was a war of self-defense and that it was "unfair" that her grandfather was judged a Class-A war criminal. Tōjō's second son, Teruo Tōjō, who designed fighter and passenger aircraft during and after the war, eventually served as an executive at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
Under current Japanese law, Tojo is not considered a war criminal.[citation needed]
