of Manchukuo was still too primitive to permit free market capitalism. Aikawa also received bank loans from American steel industrialists to support the Manchukuo economy, which created considerable controversy in the United States with its policy of Non-recognition. However, while his economic views were in line with Imperial Japanese Army policy, his political views were not. Aikawa was a strong opponent of the Tripartite Pact, and predicted that the forces of the United Kingdom and France would eventually prevail over Nazi Germany should a general war break out. He supported the Fugu Plan, a project to settle Jewish refugees in Manchukuo. In 1942, at the instigation of the Kwantung Army, Aikawa resigned chairman of the Manchurian Industrial Development Company, and moved back to Japan. After the surrender of Japan, Aikawa was arrested by the American occupation authorities and incarcerated in Sugamo Prison for 20 months as a Class A war crimes suspect. He was freed before his case came to trial, however, during this time, the Nissan zaibatsu was dissolved. After his release, Aikawa played a key role in post-war economic reconstruction of Japan, and purchased a commercial bank to organize loans to small companies. He served as president of Teikoku Oil Company and of the Japan Petroleum Exploration Company, and in 1953, was elected to a seat in the House of Councilors of the Diet of Japan. With the help of Nobusuke Kishi, then prime minister, he achieved his goal in implementing economic-control law and policies as leader of the Chuseiren, a pressure group that became the main federation of small and medium-sized companies in the 1960s. Aikawa died of acute gall bladder inflammation in 1967. His grave is at the Tama Cemetery outside Tokyo. Notes References External links Biography at the National Diet Library 1880 births 1967 deaths Nissan people Japanese founders of automobile manufacturers Japanese automotive pioneers University of Tokyo alumni People from Yamaguchi (city) People of the Empire of Japan People of Manchukuo Members of the House of Councillors (Japan) Jewish Japanese history 20th-century Japanese businesspeople 20th-century Japanese politicians 19th-century Japanese people