Editing Nobusuke Kishi (section)

==Minister in the Konoe and Tōjō governments==
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| image1            = Hideki_Tōjō_Cabinet_19411018_2.jpg
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| image2            = Hideki Tōjō and Nobusuke Kishi in 1943.jpg
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| caption1          = Cropped photo of the wartime Hideki Tōjō cabinet. Kishi is second from the left in the second row, just behind Tōjō's right shoulder.
| caption2          = Hideki Tōjō (right) and Nobusuke Kishi, October 1943.
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In 1939, Kishi became Vice Minister of Commerce and Industy in the government of Prince [[Fumimaro Konoe]]. Kishi intended to create within Japan the same sort of totalitarian "national defense state" that he had pioneered in Manchuria, but these plans ran into vigorous opposition from the ''zaibatsu'', who accused him of being a communist,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Delury|first=John|date=2015|title=The Kishi Effect: A Political Genealogy of Japan-ROK Relations|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43738126|journal=Asian Perspective|volume=39|issue=3|pages=446|jstor=43738126 |issn=0258-9184}}</ref> and Kishi was fired from his post in December 1940.{{sfn|Maiolo|2010|pp=390}} However, Kishi entered the cabinet as Minister of Commerce and Industry under new prime minister [[Hideki Tōjō]] less than one year later, in October 1941.{{sfn|Kitaoka|2016|p=102}} Kishi and General Tōjō had worked closely together in Manchuria, and Tōjō regarded Kishi as his protégé.<ref name="Browne, Courtney page 179">{{cite book|last=Browne|first=Courtney|title=Tojo: The Last Banzai|location=New York|publisher=Holt, Rinehart and Winston|year=1967|pages=179}}</ref>

On 1 December 1941, Kishi voted in the Cabinet for war with the United States and Britain, and co-signed the [[declaration of war]] issued on 7 December 1941. Kishi was also elected to the [[House of Representatives of Japan|Lower House]] of the Diet of Japan in April 1942 as a member of the [[Imperial Rule Assistance Association]].{{sfn|Samuels|2001}} Kishi's many connections with the business world and his organizational skills proved an asset to keeping Japan's war effort going despite growing obstacles.{{sfn|Kitaoka|2016|pp=102-103}} In 1943, the Ministry of Commerce was abolished and replaced with the newly created [[Ministry of Munitions (Japan)|Ministry of Munitions]]. Kishi was forced to accept a demotion, becoming Vice Minister of Munitions as Tōjō concentrated power in his own hands by simultaneously serving as prime minister, Minister of War, and Minister of Munitions, although Kishi retained his status as a member of the cabinet. This demotion was the beginning of a rift in the relationship between the two men.

Meanwhile, Kishi increasingly became convinced that the war was unwinnable under Tōjō. In July 1944, during the political crisis caused by the Japanese defeat at the [[Battle of Saipan]], Tōjō attempted to save his government from collapse by reorganizing his cabinet. However, Kishi refused a request to resign, telling Tōjō he would only resign if the prime minister also resigned along with the entire cabinet, saying a partial reorganization was unacceptable.<ref name="Browne, Courtney page 179"/> Despite Tōjō's tears as he begged Kishi to help him save his government, Kishi was unmoved.<ref name="Browne, Courtney page 179"/> Kishi's actions succeeded in bringing down the Tōjō cabinet and led directly to Tōjō's replacement as prime minister with General [[Kuniaki Koiso]].