Sokichi Takagi

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Sokichi Takagi (高木惣吉; 1893-19??) was a Japanese admiral and political figure opposed to the Tojo government during World War II. Not unlike the German Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, Takagi's efforts to undermine the Japanese wartime government would contribute to the Allied victory over Japan as well as helping write the modern Japanese constitution.

Born in the Kumamoto prefecture, Takagi graduated from the Japanese Naval Academy in 1915, Navigation School in 1922, and later Naval Staff College in 1927 winning promotion to lieutenant commander. Serving as a resident officer in France until 1930, Takagi served as private secretary to the Minister of the Navy for two years before being appointed commander and instructor of the Naval Staff college from 1933 to 1936.

In 1939, Takagi was promoted to Captain becoming Chief of the Navy Ministry's Research Section. While head of the government organization, Takagi often over stretched the predefined powers of his office acting as a political contact for the Navy through government officials and statesmen such as Prince Konoye, Marquis Kido, and Prince Saionji as well as developing contacts of intellectuals within the government.

An opponent of Japan's decision to declare war on the United States, Takagi was removed from his position of the Research Section in 1942 and was reassigned as chief of staff of the Maizuru Naval Base. Promoted Rear Admiral the following year, Takagi (who due to his access and unique knowledge of classified files from his time as chief of the Research Section) was asked by Navy Minister Shigetaro Shimada in September to compile a report analyzing Japanese defeats during the Pacific campaign of 1942. Going far beyond its original purpose, Takagi's analysis of combat evidence, conditions in the home islands, as well as air and shipping losses as of that year convinced Takagi of Japan's inevitable defeat. Believing the only solution for Japan was the elimination of the Tojo-led government and a truce with the United States, Takagi was hesitant to present the report to Shimada, instead beginning planning for the assassination of Prime Minister Hideki Tojo before his removal from office in July 1944.

As a member of the Navy Staff College's Research Department, Takagi was encouraged by the newly appointed Navy Minister Mitsumasa Yonai to compose an ultrasecret document proposing the most favorable scenario for Japan's eventual withdrawal from the Pacific, a project he would continue working on in cooperation with other government officials until Japan's surrender in August 1945. He would later work with Teiji Yabe, a professor of the Imperial University, on revising the Japanese constitution in October 1945.