# Naoki Hoshino

Naoki Hoshino (星野 直樹, Hoshino Naoki, 10 April 1892 – 26 January 1978) was a bureaucrat who served as Chief Cabinet Secretary under Prime Minister Hideki Tojo from 1941 to 1944. He served in the Ministry of Finance during the Taishō and early Shōwa period, and was a senior official in the Empire of Manchukuo.
After World War II he was prosecuted for war crimes by the International Military Tribunal of the Far East and sentenced to life imprisonment, but he was released in 1958.

## Biography
### Early life and career

Hoshino was born in Yokohama, where his father was involved in the textile industry. His paternal aunt was principal of the Tsuda College, a noted women's university. Hoshino graduated from the law school of Tokyo Imperial University, and on graduation he was employed by the Ministry of Finance. He rose through the ranks in various capacities, ranging from bank regulation to taxation, and in 1932, became chief of the state property section in the Ministry.

### Manchukuo

Following the Japanese invasion of Manchuria and the establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo he led a team of bureaucrats from the Ministry of Finance sent to provide an infrastructure for finances for the new territory in July 1932, first serving as chief of the General Affair Bureau in the Department of Finance. Hoshino oversaw the creation of the state opium monopoly in Manchukuo. The official aim of the monopoly was the gradual suppression of opium addiction, which was widespread in the region, but critics alleged that the monopoly stimulated addiction, serving as a source of revenue and a tool to soften resistance to Japanese occupation.
In June 1936 Hoshino was appointed Vice Minister of Finance in Manchukuo. In December 1936 he was further promoted to director of the General Affairs Board (総務庁), the de facto senior civilian official in the country.

### Wartime role

Considered successful in his mission to establish a profitable economy for the Japanese Empire in Manchuria, he was recalled to Japan in July 1940 to serve in the second Konoe Cabinet as minister of state and chief of the Planning Board, the central policy planning organ under the Prime Minister. In this position he was in charge of formulating a plan for economic reorganization in line with the New Order Movement. The plan formulated by Hoshino would've taken economic power from the zaibatsu and concentrated it in the government. However, due to strong opposition from the Keidanren the plan was scrapped and Hoshino was forced to resign from cabinet in April 1941, as were several other officials associated with the plan. Upon his resignation, Hoshino was appointed to the House of Peers.
When General Hideki Tojo was appointed Prime Minister in October 1941, he appointed Hoshino as his Chief Cabinet Secretary. Hoshino assisted Tojo in selecting the cabinet. Hoshino held his position until Tojo resigned in July 1944.

### Trial and later life

After the surrender of Japan, he was arrested by the American occupation authorities and tried before the International Military Tribunal of the Far East as a Class A war criminal on counts 1, 27, 29, 31, 32 together with other members of the Manchurian administration responsible for the Japanese policies there. He was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo.
He was released from jail in 1958 and served as president or chairman of a number of companies, including the Tokyu Corporation. He published his memoirs in 1963, which created somewhat of a sensation for his undiminished admiration of Japanese accomplishments in Manchukuo, and his unexpected lack of respect for wartime leader Hideki Tojo. He died in Tokyo in 1978.