Tatsuo Kawai

Tatsuo Kawai (河相 達夫, Kawai Tatsuo, July 26, 1889 - October 31, 1965) was a Japanese diplomat and author. He was a leading proponent of expansionism in Japan before World War II but later became a pacifist and was Japan's first Minister to Australia.

Early years

Kawai was born in Fukuyama, Hiroshima Prefecture, and he graduated from Tokyo Imperial University in 1915. He passed the diplomatic service examination in 1918 and was appointed vice-consul to Tsinan, China in 1919. He was promoted in 1921 and served as Secretary to the Japanese Embassy in Washington, D.C. and then Secretary to the Department of Commerce in 1921. He became the Japanese Consul to Vancouver in 1925 and Tsingtao in 1928. He became Chief of the Foreign Department of the Kwantung Leased Territory in 1930 and Secretary to the Japanese Advisor to the Lytton Commission of the League of Nations.

He was appointed Consul-General to Canton in 1934 and Shanghai in 1938. Kawai was an ardent expansionist and in 1938 published The Goal of Japanese Expansion, which was published in Japanese, English and Russian, and the following year translated into Spanish. In 1938 he also published 支那事変と帝国外交 (The China Incident and Imperial Diplomacy), which was only available in Japanese.