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The Supreme War Council (Gunji sangikan kaigi 軍事参議官会議) was established during the development of representative government in Meiji period Japan to further strengthen the authority of the state. Its first leader was Yamagata Aritomo (1838–1922), a Chōshū native who has been credited with the founding of the modern Japanese army and was to become the first constitutional prime minister. The Supreme War Council developed a German-style general staff system with a chief of staff who had direct access to the emperor and who could operate independently of the army minister and civilian officials. The Supreme War Council was the de facto inner cabinet of Japan prior to the Second Sino-Japanese War.

  Liaison Conference

From November 1937 and following Emperor Shōwa's order, the Gunji sangikan kaigi was in effect replaced by the Imperial General Headquarters-Government Liaison Conference. The Liaison Conferences were intended by the emperor to bring the chiefs of Army and Navy General Staff into closer consultation with his government and to assist in integrating the decisions and needs of the two military sections of Imperial General Headquarters with the resources and policies of the rest of the government. The final decisions of Liaison Conferences were formally disclosed and approved at Imperial Conferences over which the emperor presided in person at the Kyūden of the Tokyo Imperial Palace.

Amongst its members were the following people:

• the Emperor of Japan
• the Prime Minister
• the Minister of Foreign Affairs
• the Minister of War
• the Minister of the Navy
• the Chief of the Army General Staff and
• the Chief of the Navy General Staff

On the eve of the Attack on Pearl Harbor, the most notable members of the conference consisted of:

• Emperor Shōwa
• Prime Minister: General Hideki Tōjō
• Minister of Foreign Affairs: Shigenori Tōgō
• Minister of War: General Hideki Tōjō
• Minister of the Navy: Admiral Shimada Shigetaro
• Chief of the Army General Staff: General Sugiyama Hajime
• Chief of the Navy General Staff: Admiral Nagano Osami

  Supreme Council for the Direction of the War

In 1944, Prime Minister Kuniaki Koiso established the Supreme Council for the Direction of the War (Saikō sensō shidō kaigi), which replaced the earlier Supreme War Council. At the end of the war on August 14, 1945, it consisted of:

• Prime Minister: Admiral Suzuki Kantarō
• Minister of Foreign Affairs: Togo Shigenori
• Minister of War: General Anami Korechika
• Minister of the Navy: Admiral Yonai Mitsumasa
• Chief of the Army General Staff: General Yoshijirō Umezu
• Chief of the Navy General Staff: Admiral Toyoda Soemu

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