1. Admiral Toyoda was in charge of a large part of the Imperial Japanese fleet. He was promoted to this position at the time of Pearl Harbour. He had taken part in the previous invasions of China however, he was against the war with the USA believing it was ‘unwinnable’
He was an important character as he was part of the War council responsible for the Japanese tactics of the war. He was part of the group trying to agree a surrender in July 1945 – However he was opposed to unconditional surrender – peace at any price- He wanted to wait and see if the US could give more favourable conditions to Japan. This failure to surrender of course led to the dropping of the bombs in August.
The dropping of the bombs made him even more HARD LINE! He wanted Japan to fight to the last man. He was arrested by the US after the war and was found to be intelligent and against the role of the army in Japan. He was the only leader of the Japanese armed forces to be released and died in 1957
His views are a useful Japanese strategic view from an important military leader who was involved with talks on surrender. His tactic of trying to get concessions led in part to the atomic bomb which may influence his views- It is also important in that he was considered a hard liner in wanting to fight to the last man even after the atomic bombs