page_title: Kōki Hirota
section_title: Second diplomatic career
hierarchical_section_title: Kōki Hirota / Second diplomatic career
context_page_description: Kōki Hirota was a Japanese diplomat and politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1936 to 1937. Originally his name was Jōtarō. He was executed for war crimes committed during World War II at the Tokyo Trials.
context_section_description: Hirota soon returned to government service as foreign minister under Hayashi's successor, Prince Konoe Fumimaro. During his second term as foreign minister, Hirota strongly opposed the military's aggression against China, which completely undermined his efforts to create a Japan-China-Manchukuo alliance against the Soviet Union. He also spoke out repeatedly against the escalation of the Second Sino-Japanese War. The military soon tired of his criticism and forced his retirement in 1938.
  In 1945, however, Hirota returned to government service to lead Japanese peace negotiations with the Soviet Union. At the time, Japan and the USSR were still under a non-aggression pact, even though the other Allied Powers had all declared war on Japan. Hirota attempted to persuade Joseph Stalin's government to stay out of the war, but he ultimately failed; the Soviet Union declared war on Japan in between the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
caption: Koki Hirota listening to his death sentence being read by Sir William Webb, 1948
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