World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseChikahiko Koizumi graduated from the Tokyo Imperial University (now University of Tokyo) in Japan in 1908 and joined the Japanese military as a medical personnel. In 1915, during WW1, he joined a secret poison gas research committee. When the program produced its first chemical weapon in 1918, he was lauded as the Father of Japanese Chemical Warfare. In 1921, he received his doctorate degree in medicine. In 1930, when Shiro Ishii expressed interest in establishing a unit to research the effect of various biological and chemical elements on the human body in northeastern China, Koizumi expressed full support. In 1934, he was made the commandant of the Army's medical school. In 1940, he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun 1st Class. Between 1941 and 1944, he was the Minister of Health and Welfare under Prime Ministers Fumimaro Konoe and Hideki Tojo; in this role, he focused on disease prevention and advocated for universal healthcare. At the war's end, he committed ritual suicide to avoid being investigated as a war criminal.

Photographs

Chikahiko Koizumi Timeline