Some information on Prime Minister Tojo

I was doing some background and started digging and found some information on Prime Minister Tojo, he was the boogieman used on all the posters that the allies depicted, by today's standard they are considered "racist" but the times and standards were different back in WWII.  He was widely believed for pushing for war against the United States to give Japan the "breathing room" to expand in the pacific to create the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity sphere".  He wanted the United States out of the way so Japan could seize the resource rich areas to support their expansion into China.

Hideki Tojo, a general and a politician, was the true representative of the Japanese expansionist policy in China in the first half of the 20th century. A military child himself, he advanced through army ranks completing his education in the Army Cadets School as 10th in his class (out of 363 cadets).
In 1905, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army. Tojo proved to be more of an administrative type and in 1928, he became the bureau chief of the Imperial Army. He was promoted to the rank of colonel. In his spare time, Colonel Tojo studied militarist policy that was popular at the time, fueling his ambitions as a conqueror.
In 1934, Tojo continued his rise within the political structures of The Japanese Empire and became a major general serving as Chief of the Personnel Department within the Army Ministry. In 1935, he was in China leading the notorious Kempeitai section of the Kwantung Army in Manchuria. This is where he earned his nickname “Razor” for his sharp decision making and cold-blooded cruelty. Politically, he developed his hard-line stance as a fascist and an ultra-nationalist loyal to the Emperor.

 Emperor Hirohito and Prime Minister Tojo

The 30s in Japan were marked by political turmoil between two factions within the military. The first faction advocated the expansion on the territory of the Soviet Union and unprecedented loyalty to Emperor Hirohito while the “Young Officers” wanted to reduce the power of the Emperor and the ruling elite while emphasizing colonial conquest in China. Other than the two factions, there was a number of secret societies that lurked the Japanese government from shadows in the 1930s.
The friction between these groups erupted on February 26, 1936, when a band of young officers staged an attempted coup d’etat which backfired when the “old school” showed them who’s the boss. Tojo aligned himself with Sadao Araki, the Minister of War and an experienced Japanese general, who opposed the restless youth within the Army. The rebels were trialed and executed, and the remaining Army factions were unified.
Tojo, being on “the right side” gained political points and quickly rose through the ranks in Manchuria. He was promoted to Chief of Staff of the Kwantung Army in 1937.

Hideki Tojo in military uniform

As Chief of Staff, Tojo was responsible for the military operations designed to increase Japanese penetration into the Inner Mongolia border regions with Manchukuo. In July 1937, he personally led the units of the 1st Independent Mixed Brigade in Operation Chahar against the Chinese rebels.
This was his only real combat experience, but he proved that he was up to the task. The operation was vital in crushing the resistance in northern China and Mongolia, so Tojo gained popular support as well as the support of leading politicians.

This is how he paved his way into high-level policy, becoming an Army Minister. Tojo played an important role in joining the Tripartite Pact together with Italy and Germany and in negotiating the occupation of Indochina after the fall of France. The animosity between the US and Japan started to flourish, as the US proclaimed  a total embargo on oil and gasoline exports to Japan.
Under the guidance of the Navy and the Army, Emperor Hirohito leaned towards a more aggressive policy. Hideki Tojo was declared Prime Minister, replacing the more cautious and politically moderate Fumimaro Konoe.
Some political structures in the early 1940s in Japan weren’t so eager in entering a war against the United States and negotiations were desperately held between the two parties, with no chance of finding a common language. The scenario of Pearl Harbor was already drafted by the Navy in case the negotiations fail. Fleet Admiral Osami Nagano explained in detail the Pearl Harbor attack to Hirohito.
The eventual plan drawn up by Army and Navy Chiefs of Staff envisaged such a mauling of the Western powers that Japanese defense perimeter lines—operating on interior lines of communications and inflicting heavy Western casualties—could not be breached. Prime Minister Hideki Tojo went down in history as the man who gave the executive order to attack Pearl Harbor.

Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo landed in Nichols Field, an airfield south of Manila, for state visit to the Philippines. 

An interesting fact was that Tojo held on to his position as the Army Minister while being the Prime Minister of Japan. The atrocities committed in China were often guided by his supervision. On top of that, Tojo held the positions of Minister of Education, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Home Minister and Minister of Foreign affairs throughout his four year term as the Prime Minister of Japan.
In this way, he left his mark all across the wartime government, imposing imperialistic foreign policy, militaristic education, strict political control over the population and exploitation of industry to keep the Japanese war machine running.

Tojo before the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. 

He gradually lost support after the Battle of Midway in 1942 and was finally replaced on 22 July 1944. After the unconditional surrender of Japan in 1945, Tojo was arrested by the orders of general Douglas McArthur. He was put on trail for numerous charges, most of them indicating his full responsibility in waging war against the Allies, maltreatment of POWs and genocides in China.
After the trial, he was found guilty on eight of those charges. Some claimed that McArthur was protecting Emperor Hirohito from charges in order to maintain peace in Japan, thus making Tojo the main culprit of the war and the face of the Japanese terror. After he was sentenced to death, Tojo stated:

“It is natural that I should bear the entire responsibility for the war in general, and, needless to say, I am prepared to do so.”
Today, Hideki Tojo is still a controversial figure in Japan, as part of his ashes remain buried in the Yasukuni Shrine, which provides sanctuary to deceased Japanese WWII veterans – including the ones convicted of war crimes.

 A propaganda photo of Adolf Hitler and Prime Minister Tojo

2nd Chinese Carrier nears completion

I posted back in 2012 about the Chinese Aircraft Carrier.  Apparently the Chinese or the "PLA-N" the Peoples Liberation Army- Navy are expanding their power and influence and after building their manmade islands to bolster their claim for the South China Sea.  Remember China is feuding with Vietnam, Philippines and Japan over the Spratley Islands.  I will make a very uneducated guess, this parallels the American development in the early 1920 and early 1930 perhaps in carrier development.  It is easier for them because others have already built Aircraft Carriers and have already worked out tactics.  I see the Chinese will challenge the United States in the next 20 to 30 years in the Pacific.

Slowly but surely, China’s first indigenous carrier is coming into being. Laid down in 2015 with an expected launch date in 2017 or 2018, China’s second aircraft carrier may enter full service sometime around 2020. The lack of transparency around the project has spurred a tremendous degree of speculation, down to some very basic questions. As was the case with Liaoning (CV-16), China’s first carrier, analysts have a name problem; no one is quite sure what to call the new ship. For years as Liaoning underwent construction and refit, China-watchers guessed as to the correct name, generally settling on the accurate but inelegant “ex-Varyag” (other guesses included Shi Lang and Zheng He). While some have suggested “Shandong,” most commentators have settled around “CV-17.”
So, what do we know about CV-17?

Photos of CV-17, under construction at Dalian Shipbuilding, suggest that she will strongly resemble China’s first carrier. She appears to be of roughly similar size to Liaoning, has a ski-jump, and apparently will have conventional propulsion. Speculating on the basis of the appearance of a few models in the public domain, Andrew Erickson suggests that CV-17 may use gas or diesel/gas turbines (reports on Liaoning’s propulsion system remain mixed and uncertain, but many suspect she uses Soviet-style steam turbines)

      In a sense, CV-17 will become the second half-sister of the Russian Admiral Kuzetsov, which recently passed through the English Channel to great fanfare. We can expect that the Chinese will improve upon this design at the margins, but the core of the ship remains very similar to the vessel that emerged from the Soviet Black Sea Shipyard in 1990. While this seems like a long time to stick with a single design, the U.S. Navy built Nimitz-class carriers to the same basic template for about forty years                                 

U.S.S Nimitz

CV-17 is, by far, the largest military vessel ever constructed in a Chinese shipyard. The number of shipyards worldwide that can handle construction of an aircraft carrier is remarkably small, and the workforce expertise needed to build the ship disappears quickly. In a sense, CV-17 is as useful for industrial purposes as she will be for military; the experience gained in her construction will set the table for the next Chinese carriers, which may have a more modern, effective design.

In particular, Chinese shipbuilders need to overcome several hurdles before they begin constructing first rate carriers. They need to either develop effective models of nuclear propulsion for surface ships, or scale up existing conventional powerplants (Chinese engine manufacturing has struggled with reliability). They need to decide whether to install steam catapults (an exceedingly complex process) or jump straight to electro-magnetic; some reports suggest that CV-17 may have catapults in addition to a ski-jump, which would make sense primarily from an industrial-capability point of view.

In all likelihood, CV-17 will carrier Shenyang J-15 fighters (a variant of the J-11, itself part of the larger Su-27 “Flanker” family of aircraft). CV-17 may someday carry the J-31 stealth fighter, but at this point the future airwing is entirely notional. Like her half-sisters, CV-17 will lack the capacity to launch large early-warning aircraft, making her dependent upon land-based aircraft and other types of sensors for a full picture of the battlespace.

This suggests that while CV-17 may venture farther afield than her half-sister Liaoning, she will not form the core of an expeditionary battlegroup. Her aircraft will lack the range, payload, and command and control tools necessary to undertaking independent expeditionary operations. She (like Admiral Kuznetsov) will in overall capabilities more resemble one of the USN’s America-class light carriers than a Nimtz or Ford class supercarrier.

Most China watchers seem to believe that the PLAN will move on to a larger, more advanced design after CV-17. Innovations may include many of the systems taken for granted on American carriers, such as catapults (steam or electro-magnetic), and nuclear propulsion. If so, this suggests that CV-17 is a stepping stone, enabling the Chinese shipbuilding industry to gain experience with larger vessels in the same way that CV-16 gave the PLAN the chance to develop rudimentary carrier flight skills.

But what will then happen to CV-17, after the PLAN moves on to larger ships? Unless the PLAN decides on a path similar to that of India- three carriers of wildly different specifications and capabilities- the next class will likely represent the core of China’s carrier force. CV-17 will be paired with the comparatively ancient CV-16, conducting second-tier operations. Eventually, as Liaoning begins to feel her age (and unique construction history), CV-17 may shift into a training role