# Ministry of Colonial Affairs (Japan)

The Ministry of Colonial Affairs (拓務省, Takumushō) was a cabinet-level government ministry of the Empire of Japan from 1929 to 1942.

## History

The original Ministry of Colonial Affairs was the short-lived Hokkaidō Colonization Office, established in the early Meiji period by Prime Minister Kuroda Kiyotaka to protect Japan's sparely populated northern frontier against encroachment by the Russian Empire by encouraging the settlement of ex-soldiers as militia-farmers in Hokkaidō.
This was followed by the even shorter-lived Colonial Administration Department within the office of the Governor-General of Taiwan. Established on 2 April 1896 by General Takashima Tomonosuke, it was intended to encourage Japanese investment and settlement in Taiwan, after the acquisition of that island by Japan as a result of the First Sino-Japanese War. The office was abolished on 2 September 1897.
Japan acquired Korea, Karafuto (South Sakhalin), and the Kwantung Leased Territory as a result of the Russo-Japanese War, and a Colonization Bureau (拓務局, Takumukyoku) was established within the Japanese Home Ministry on 22 June 1910. The bureau came under much criticism for its ineffectiveness, and on 10 June 1929, it was elevated into a separate cabinet-level ministry under Prime Minister Giichi Tanaka.
The new ministry was intended to coordinate emigration and settlement in all exterior territories of Japan, and had supervisory responsibility for Japanese controlled territory of Korea (朝鮮, Chōsen), of Taiwan (台湾, Taiwan), of Karafuto (樺太, Karafuto) (or South Sakhalin), of Nanyo (南洋, Nan'yō) (or South Seas Mandate), and the Kwantung Leased Territory (関東, Kantō).
However, the ministry did not actually sponsor emigration to those territories. It only provided advice and cooperated with private emigration sponsorship companies.
The ministry also oversaw operations of the South Manchuria Railway Company, but its authority did not extend to Manchuria due to strong resistance by the Ministry of War, who wanted to keep control over the future economic development of Manchuria to itself.
Likewise, the Governor-General of Korea, who was accustomed to virtual autonomy, rejected the new ministry's control and continued to administer Korea with little interference.
On 1 November 1942, the Ministry of Colonial Affairs was abolished, and its functions divided between the Japanese Foreign Ministry and the newly created Ministry of Greater East Asia.

## List of ministers of colonial affairs

| Portrait | Name | Term of office | Term of office | Cabinet |
| 1 | Baron Tanaka Giichi 田中 義一 | 10 June 1929 | 2 July 1929 | Tanaka |
| 2 | Matsuda Genji 松田 源治 | 2 July 1929 | 14 April 1931 | Hamaguchi |
| 3 | Hara Shūjirō 原 脩次郎 | 14 April 1931 | 9 September 1931 | 2nd Wakatsuki |
| 4 | Baron Wakatsuki Reijirō 若槻 礼次郎 | 9 September 1931 | 13 December 1931 | 2nd Wakatsuki |
| 5 | Hata Toyosuke 秦 豊助 | 13 December 1931 | 26 May 1932 | Inukai |
| 6 | Nagai Ryūtarō 永井 柳太郎 | 26 May 1932 | 8 July 1934 | Saitō |
| 7 | Okada Keisuke 岡田 啓介 | 8 July 1934 | 9 October 1934 | Okada |
| 8 | Count Kodama Hideo 兒玉 秀雄 | 9 October 1934 | 9 March 1936 | Okada |
| 9 | Nagata Hidejirō 永田秀次郎 | 9 March 1936 | 2 February 1937 | Hirota |
| 10 | Yūki Toyotarō 結城 豊太郎 | 2 February 1937 | 4 June 1937 | Hayashi |
| 11 | Ōtani Sonyu 大谷 尊由 | 4 June 1937 | 26 May 1938 | 1st Konoe |
| 12 | Ugaki Kazushige 宇垣 一成 | 26 May 1938 | 30 September 1938 | 1st Konoe |
| 13 | Prince Konoe Fumimaro 近衞 文麿 | 30 September 1938 | 29 October 1938 | 1st Konoe |
| 14 | Hatta Yoshiaki 八田 嘉明 | 29 October 1938 | 7 April 1939 | 1st Konoe |
| 15 | Koiso Kuniaki 小磯國昭 | 7 April 1939 | 30 August 1939 | Hiranuma |
| 16 | Kanemitsu Tsuneo 金光 庸夫 | 30 August 1939 | 16 January 1940 | Abe |
| 17 | Koiso Kuniaki 小磯國昭 | 16 January 1940 | 22 July 1940 | Yonai |
| 18 | Matsuoka Yōsuke 松岡 洋右 | 22 July 1940 | 28 September 1940 | 2nd Konoe |
| 19 | Akita Kiyoshi 秋田 清 | 28 September 1940 | 18 July 1941 | 2nd Konoe |
| 20 | Toyoda Teijirō 豊田 貞次郎 | 18 July 1941 | 18 October 1941 | 3rd Konoe |
| 21 | Tōgō Shigenori 東郷茂徳 | 18 October 1941 | 2 December 1941 | Tōjō |
| 22 | Ino Hiroya 井野 碩哉 | 2 December 1941 | 2 November 1942 | Tōjō |