>>719010070
>>719009687
>After the Japanese surrender to the Allies in August 1945, Kishi, with other members of the former Japanese government, was held at Sugamo Prison as a suspected "Class A" war criminal by the order of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers. Kishi, Kodama, Sasakawa, and Matsutarō Shōriki, the former president of the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, lived in the same prison cell and were never judged. Their fraternity formed in prison continued for the rest of their lives.[46]
>During this time, a group of influential Americans who had formed themselves into an "American Council on Japan" came to Kishi's aid, and lobbied the American government to release him as they considered Kishi to be among the best men to lead post-war Japan.[47] The American Council on Japan included former ambassador to Japan Joseph C. Grew, retired diplomat Eugene Dooman, Newsweek journalists Harry Kern and Compton Packenham, and corporate lawyer James L. Kauffman.[47] Unlike Hideki Tōjō (and several other Cabinet members) who were put on trial, Kishi was released in December 1948 as part of the Reverse Course, and was never indicted or tried by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. However, he remained legally prohibited from entering public affairs because of the Allied occupation's purge of members of the old regime.[47]
>During his time as a prisoner, Kishi had already begun planning his political comeback. He conceived of the idea of building on his earlier National Defense Brotherhood to establish a mass party uniting the more moderate socialists and conservatives into a "popular movement of national salvation", a populist party that would use statist methods to encourage economic growth and would mobilize all Japanese citizens to rally in support of its nationalist policies.[3]