Japanese army general and politician. Born on 16 December 1887 in Chiba, Japan, Suzuki Tei'ichi graduated from the Army Cadet School and the War College. A typical Japanese army technocrat, Suzuki held various field and staff duties in China and became a leading expert on China in the army.

From the mid-1930s, Suzuki cultivated close relations with General Tojo Hideki that eventually brought him important government posts. Promoted to lieutenant general in 1940, Suzuki retired from active service in April 1941. However, in the same month he was appointed cabinet minister–cum–director of the National Planning Bureau and was involved in the war mobilization program of the Konoe and Tojo cabinets. Between November 1943 and October 1944, Suzuki served as an adviser to the Tojo and Koiso cabinets.

In September 1945, Suzuki was arrested by the Allied occupation authority. Brought to trial before the International War Crimes Tribunal, he was sentenced to imprisonment, but he was released in 1955. Suzuki died in Chiba on 15 July 1989.

Tohmatsu Haruo

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Further Reading
Harries, Meirion, and Susie Harries. Soldiers of the Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army. New York: Random House, 1991.; Mosley, Leonard. Hirohito, Emperor of Japan. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1966.