Hiroya Ino

Hiroya Ino (井野 碩哉), was a Japanese politician who served one term as a member of the Lower House of the National Diet during World War II, and three terms as a member of the House of Councillors in the postwar period. He also held cabinet-level posts three times.

Biography
Ino was born in Nihonbashi-ku, a former administration division of Tokyo that is now part of Chūō, Tokyo, and was educated at the Kaisei Academy, following which he graduated from Tokyo Imperial University. He was hired as a bureaucrat in the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, eventually rising to become director of the Sericulture Bureau and later Vice Minister in charge of irrigation. In June 1941, he joined the cabinet of Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe, concurrently holding two portfolios as Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Colonial Affairs, until the latter position was abolished under the Tōjō administration in 1942.

In the 1942 General Election, Ino was elected to the Lower House as a representative from Mie Prefecture, with the backing of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association (IRAA), which was the sole political party in Japan under the wartime one-party state. When the IRAA collapsed in March 1945, Ino became chairman of Nobusuke Kishi's splinter faction, called the National Defense Brotherhood (Gokoku Dōshikai), which aimed to prolong the war.

After the surrender of Japan, as with all other former government ministers, Ino was purged from public office and arrested by the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers to stand trial for Class-A war crimes. He shared a cell in Sugamo Prison with Okinori Kaya, but his case never came to trial and he was eventually depurged.

Following the end of the occupation of Japan, Ino ran for public office again in the 1953 General Election with the support of the Liberal Party and was elected to a seat in the House of Councillors, representing Mie Prefecture. He was subsequently re-elected twice from the same district on the Liberal-Democratic Party ticket. Ino was a member of the faction led by Nobusuke Kishi. In 1959, after Kishi became prime minister, Ino accepted a post as Minister of Justice in Kishi's second cabinet.

In 1965, Ino was awarded the 1st class of the Order of the Sacred Treasures and in 1973 he was awarded the 1st class of the Order of the Rising Sun. Ino published his memoirs in 1978 and died in 1980. His grave is in Tama Cemetery in Fuchū, Tokyo.