murder of three Japanese politicians who advocated the peaceful coexistence of Japan, Korea and China. In 1934, Kodama was involved in the planning of an assassination attempt on Prime Minister Saitō Makoto. Kodama's plot was uncovered, the attack was prevented by the Japanese police and Kodama was arrested. He served a prison term of three and half years. He was released from Fuchū prison at the instigation of Doihara, by this time promoted to major general, just prior to the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in April 1937. Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War In 1937, the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out following a clash between Japanese and Chinese troops in the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, which precipitated a full-scale invasion of China Proper by Japanese forces. After the conquest of Shanghai by Japanese troops, Kodama was summoned there by his old mentor Doihara. Among other things, he served in 1939 as a bodyguard for the Chinese collaborator Wang Jingwei. During his work he met the vice admiral and later founder of the Kamikaze units Takijirō Ōnishi, with whom he built a good friendship. From 1939 to 1941 he traveled through China as a Japanese spy and built up a network that included various triads collaborating with the Japanese. Like other Japanese secret service agents, he founded his own "Kodama Organization" (Kodama Kikan), which, thanks to his relationship with Admiral Ōnishi, had an exclusive contract as a purchasing agent in China for the aviation forces of the Imperial Japanese Navy. With these resources, Kodama was able to use what he described as "self-sacrificing youth" to engage in large-scale plunder in Manchuria and China and sell the stolen goods at a high profit in Japan. Kodama publicly regarded this activity as purely idealistic and patriotic. By 1945, Kodama had become one of the richest men in Asia with assets equivalent to $175 million US dollars. Towards the end of the Pacific War, Kodama was promoted to Rear Admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy. Post-War detention in Sugamo Prison At the end of World War II, the defeat of Japan initially represented an enormous setback for Kodama. Shortly after the announcement of the unconditional surrender of Japan on August 15, 1945, he witnessed the ritual suicide of Admiral Ōnishi, but was subsequently unable to bring himself to commit seppuku. A little later he acted as an advisor to the Japanese