title: The Collapse of Imperial Japan—Senior Statesman
abstract: The seventh chapter is devoted to the period from Hirota’s resignation as foreign minister in 1938 to the end of the Second World War in 1945. While Hirota did not hold any formal office in the government during this time, he participated in the conferences of senior statesmen who chose new prime ministers due to his status of a former prime minister. Much of the chapter is thus spent on Hirota’s views of political and diplomatic developments, particularly his opposition to the conclusion of the