Yoshimichi Hara (原嘉道) (February 18, 1867 – August 7, 1944) was a Japanese statesman and the president of the Japanese

privy council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, from June 1940 until his death. Hara was always reluctant to use military force. In particular, he protested against the outbreak of the Pacific war at

Gozen Kaigi In the Empire of Japan, an (literally, a conference before the emperor) was an extraconstitutional conference on foreign matters of grave national importance that was convened by the government in the presence of the Emperor. History and backgr ...

. Historia
Charles Kupfer
contradicts this statement in ''Indomitable Will: Turning Defeat into Victory from Pearl Harbor to Midway'', Hara recognized the growing threat of American influence in the pacific region prior to American involvement in World War II, and was a key advocate for the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...

. Hara was of the opinion that the longer

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

waited to engage the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, the weaker its position would become thus subjugating the island nation to the will of American dominance in the region. Indeed, Hara as president of the privy council, had very little political control, since almost all political power was concentrated in war cabinets. Hara did, however, act as the voice for

Emperor Hirohito Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...

in the privy council and delivered the Emperor's decision to go to war on December 1, 1941, stating that to yield to American demands would threaten the existence of the

Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent fo ...

. After his death, Hara was decorated with the posthumous title of Imperial . He was the last commoner to become part of the Japanese aristocracy.

References

, - , - , - 1867 births 1944 deaths Kazoku {{japan-noble-stub