Kenosuke Sato
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Kenosuke (Ken) Sato was an Imperial Japanese Navy theoretician, and overseas journalist for the Osaka Maininchi Shimbun newspaper, before World War II. He also wrote under the nom de plume "Amanojaku". He had been educated at Washington Grammar School, San Francisco, also attending University of Southern California,Illinois,and Chicago. He worked on a Ph. D. at Columbia University in 1921 and attended the University of Berlin in 1922/3. He was a fluent speaker of English.
[edit] 1930s
He worked for the Osaka Maininchi Shimbun, under the presidency of Shingoro Takahashi. He spent some time in Australia. On one particular goodwill there voyage, with the support of the newspaper, he accompanied Dr. Kenichi Abe and a group of 10 Japanese businessmen. The group was in Australia for about six weeks, but Sato remained for 5 months. He gathered material for a trade relations booklet, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. It was published by the Osaka Mainichi in 1936, in both English and Japanese editions.
After the outbreak of the "China Incident", Sato was seconded to the Japanese Army with the honorary rank of Lieutenant-General. He was responsible for the apprehension of many British and American nationals at Nanking and Hankow.
[edit] Pacific War years
After the Pearl Harbor Attack he continued to work for the Osaka Mainichi for 6 or 7 months. The Imperial Japanese Navy then approached Shingoro Takahashi, the Mainichi President, requesting that Sato be loaned to the Australian Section of the Japanese Naval Intelligence Staff. After a discussion with Sato, Takaishi then "ordered" Sato to work with the Australian Section (Tokyo Gimusho) of the Japanese Navy. There he became one its planners for Australian questions. The Japanese Navy was responsible for the implementation of plans to invade and occupy Australia. It is said that he was very closely involved, and it has also been claimed that he was to be appointed Civil Administrator for Australia after a successful Japanese Invasion of Australia, planned for 1942.
The Invasion of Australia Operation was the brainchild of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. It is not however so clear whether this was serious, or whether the possibility to be used as a diversionary operation, against Australian and American forces, in the drive for New Caledonia, New Hebrides, West Samoa and others nearer objectives.
On Sato's account, the Japanese campaign in New Guinea used up all the forces (South Seas Detachment) originally intended for the invasion of Australia. He indicated that the Japanese had initially thought the Australian forces would be a pushover.
