Out of the four types of castes that made up Japanese society, the Tojo family held status in the samurai category.
Hideki Tojo was a descendant of a historically militaristic family, with his father being a lieutenant general when Tojo was born. Tojo’s adolescence trained him to have a military mindset and the belief that war is beautiful.
Tojo was an average student but satisfied his superiors with his work ethic.
A commonly known Hideki Tojo fact is that he was a workaholic. Tojo had no interests outside of work; he had no hobbies and was uninterested in family life. Hideki Tojo often brought his work home with him to continue working late at night.
Slapping was a Japanese officer’s technique for training soldiers and instilling discipline, which Tojo found to be effective.
A known fact about Hideki Tojo was his animosity toward Western culture. Tojo found it undermined Japanese traditionalism, and was liberal and grotesque.
Hideki Tojo idolized strength and dictatorship. This resulted in an infatuation with Hitler and Stalin, as they both were globally recognized fascists.
A lesser-known fact about Hideki Tojo was that he held six ministry positions. Throughout his career, Tojo was Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Army Mini •
Wartime leader of Japan’s government, General Tôjô Hideki (1884-1948), with his close-cropped hair, mustache, and round spectacles, became for Allied propagandists one of the most commonly caricatured members of Japan’s military dictatorship throughout the Pacific war. Shrewd at bureaucratic infighting and fiercely partisan in presenting the army’s perspective while army minister, he was surprisingly indecisive as national leader.
Known within the army as “Razor Tôjô” both for his bureaucratic efficiency and for his strict, uncompromising attention to detail, he climbed the command ladders, in close association with the army faction seeking to upgrade and improve Japan’s fighting capabilities despite tight budgets and “civilian interference.” Tôjô built up a personal power base and used his position as head of the military police of Japan’s garrison force in Manchuria to rein in their influence before he became the Kwantung Army’s chief of staff in 1937. He played a key role in opening hostilities against China in July. Tôjô had his only combat experience later that year, leading two brigades on operations in Inner Mongolia.
Seeing the military occupation of Chinese territory as necessary to force the Nationalist Chinese government to collaborate with Japan, he continued to