Background
Mitsumasa Yonai was born on 2 March 1880, in Iwate Prefecture.
米内 光政
Mitsumasa Yonai was born on 2 March 1880, in Iwate Prefecture.
He graduated from Morioka Middle School, the Naval Academy, and the Naval Staff College.
In 1903 was commissioned as an ensign. An expert in gunnery, he was stationed in Russia during the years 1915-17, in Berlin during 1920-22, and held other posts, among them commander of a warship. By 1925 he had advanced to the rank of rear admiral and in 1930 became a vice-admiral. After serving as commander of various naval yards, he in 1936 became commander of the Combined Fleet. From 1937 to 1939 he served as minister of the navy in the Hayashi, Konoe, and Hiramima cabinets, and in 1940 entered the reserve. The same year, he formed a cabinet of his own, but he faced opposition from the army leaders who favored the concluding of a Tripartite Military Pact with Germany and Italy. When he dismissed from office War Minister Hata Shunroku, who had urged cooperation with the “New Order,” the army refused to put forward any successor to the post of war minister and thus brought about the downfall of the cabinet.
In 1944, toward the close of the Pacific War, he and Koiso Kuniaki were ordered to form a cabinet, and he became minister of the navy in the cabinet headed by Koiso. He continued in that post in the Suzuki cabinet that succeeded it. Yonai, as a result of his years of residence abroad, had a sound understanding of the international scene and could foresee that the war would end in Japan’s defeat. During his period of service in the Suzuki cabinet, he accordingly advocated surrender. After the conclusion of the war, he continued to serve in the Higashikuni-no-miya and Shidehara cabinets, functioning as chief of the naval funeral committee. He appeared before the International Military Tribunal for the Far East as a witness for the defense at the trial of Hata Shunroku.