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The Ministry of Munitions (軍需省, Gunjushō) was a cabinet-level ministry in the final days of the Empire of Japan, charged with the procurement and manufacture of armaments, spare parts and munitions to support the Japanese war effort in World War II
The Ministry of Munitions was created on 1 November 1943 [1] out of the Board of Planning of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, which was subsequently abolished. With an increasing portion of Japan's industrial base and infrastructure damaged by Allied air raids, the Japanese government felt it necessary to unify the administration of munitions production to improve efficiency and to increase production levels, particularly that of military aircraft. The concept was inspired by the German Ministry of Armaments and Munitions under Fritz Todt and Albert Speer, which had successfully increased Nazi Germany's industrial production under similar adverse conditions, and was also an unsuccessful political move by the military to impose more control over the zaibatsu.[2]
Although Prime Minister Tōjō concurrently was first Minister of Munitions, the actual day-to-day running of the Ministry devolved to his deputy, Nobusuke Kishi.[3]
Key firms were designated as components of the nationalized Munitions Companies System, and managers were given positions as government officials. Production staff was regarded as conscript labor and was not allowed to quit, or go on strike.[4] State-controlled financial institutions provided working capital and subsidized the firms for any losses.[5]
The Ministry of Munitions was abolished in 1945, by the American occupation authorities, and its functions were absorbed into the modern Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI).[6]
Munitions Minister
World War II, Korea, Japan, Russian Empire, Meiji Restoration
Cold War, Battle of Stalingrad, Nazi Germany, Battle of the Atlantic, Second Sino-Japanese War
Architecture, Public transport, Telecommunication, Civil engineering, Urban planning
World War II, Adolf Hitler, Soviet Union, The Holocaust, Germany
World War II, Itō Hirobumi, Matsukata Masayoshi, Katsura Tarō, Ōkuma Shigenobu
Tokyo, Keio University, World War II, Shanghai, Japan
Empire of Japan, Imperial Japanese Navy, Japanese war crimes, Boshin War, Boxer Rebellion
Imperial Japanese Army, Meiji period, Shōwa period, Satsuma Rebellion, Empire of Japan