was a journalist for Dentsu (later Dōmei) and spy for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in pre-war years, a military executive in Japanese-occupied Singapore, and a businessman and writer in post-war years. He is known for the in 1940, and for his testimony in the war crimes trial in 1947 for the Sook Ching massacre.
He was also known for his autobiography, which related the history of Japanese-occupied Singapore and was criticized by many researchers and Singaporean residents for his self-praise and for alleged lies and distortions of many historical facts.
Early life Shinozaki was born in Fukuoka Prefecture in February 1908.
According to his autobiography, his father owned a coal mine in Fukuoka and was often away on business. He was raised mainly by his grandmother, who wanted him to become a monk, but his father opposed the idea. She sent him to a Buddhist temple for a year at the age of six. As a student, he was interested in socialism, secretly reading the works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, a serious offense which got him expelled from his high school in Kyoto.
He studied journalism at Meiji University.
Pre-war activity After dropping out of university in 1931 or 1932, he worked as a reporter at Denpo Tsushinsha (Nippon Telegraph News Agency). In 1934 he was posted to Shanghai, and later to Nanking and Hankou.
In December 1936, he was recalled to Japan, and he became a spy for the Japanese Foreign Ministry.Shinozaki became a non-regular staff of the Information Bureau of the Gaimusho. He was soon posted to Berlin as "assistant press attache" at the Japanese Embassy. His relationship with a German woman resulted in his reassignment to Singapore in October 1938.According to and , when Special Branch of Straits Settlements Police searched Shinozaki's office in the Japanese Consulate in Singapore in September 1940, they found a certification document of Shinozaki's appointment to the staff of Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 20 December 1936.
While in Singapore, superficially as "press attaché" to the Japanese consul-general or a member of the staff of the Eastern News Agency, he provided "fresh and undistorted news" (i.e. propaganda) about The Empire of Japan's movement which ran from Domei News to the Singapore Herald, The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser or such English-language newspapers published in Singapore. At the same time, he collected intelligence both on the Chinese community of Singapore by using Chinese informers, and also on the defence of Singapore by hosting parties to make connections with British Servicemen of Singapore.
On 21 September 1940, Shinozaki was arrested by the British Special Branch detectives and was subsequently charged with obtaining military intelligence from Frank Gardner, a British Serviceman. He was tried and sentenced to three years' rigorous imprisonment and a fine of $1,000, or an extra six months' simple imprisonment. Frank Gardner was sentenced to five years penal servitude and was dismissed from the service with ignominy.'DISMISSED WITH IGNOMINY' The Straits Times, 6 February 1941, Page 11 Kitsuji Kashiwabara, Shinozaki's cooperator, was sentenced to two months of rigorous imprisonment and was deported from Singapore.'Gaol For Japanese On Charge Under Defence Regulations' The Straits Times, 2 November 1940, Page 10 wrote that Kashiwabara sentenced 3 months' rigorous imprisonment and then deported, based on "Malay Mail" of 21 Oct. 1940 and 2 Nov. 1940. In his autobiography, Shinozaki wrote that he had taken Colonel T. Tanikawa, the planning chief of Japan's Imperial Army Headquarters in Tokyo, and Major Teruhito Kunitake, who was later on Tsuji Masanobu's Malaya Campaign planning staff, to locations in Singapore, Malacca and Johor to survey military installations and study the British defence capability, and that was his suspicion on his trial.
But contemporary newspapers had not mentioned to such suspicion. Furthermore, Major Kunitake in his memoir wrote that he visited Singapore to scout geopolitical situations for the first time in early 1941, when Shinozaki was already in jail.
Second World War Special adviser of Kempeitai
Upon the British surrender of Singapore on 15 February 1942, Shinozaki was "released" by the Twenty-Fifth Army from Changi Prison and went on to become "special adviser" or an interpreter for the Twenty-Fifth Army's Kempeitai in Syonan and supported their actions. After the Pacific War began on 7/8 December 1941, Japanese residents of pre-war Malaya had moved to the Purana Qila internment camp. Among 32 Japanese prisoners of Changi, Shinozaki was the only person familiar with Singapore's political circumstances, so his knowledge was crucial to occupying Japanese forces.
He participated in the Sook Ching Massacre as one of the staff who tempted English-speaking Chinese leaders such as Lim Boon Keng, who was captured during the "great inspection", to cooperate with the Japanese Military Administration (JMA). In his autobiography, Shinozaki wrote that he voluntarily saved the Chinese leaders, but that is inconsistent with the record that Kempeitai had held 20 or more Chinese leaders to persuade them to cooperate with JMA. Shinozaki got Lim Boon Keng drunk with beer and made him promise to cooperate with JMA, which was the same method that was used on Frank Gardner in 1940.TRIAL OF JAPANESE ON SECRETS CHARGES The Straits Times, 19 November 1940, Page 11; JAPANESE CHARGED UNDER SECRETS' ORDINANCE The Straits Times, 24 October 1940, Page 11; GUNNERS' EVIDENCE IN SECRETS' CASE The Straits Times, 25 October 1940, Page 11. For more detail information, please see references of . He might have been engaged in the task of checking the list of people who promoted the China Relief Fund and thus who became the target of Kempeitai.Hiroshi Tanaka, "Afterword of translator"
According to his autobiography, in his working capacity at the Defence Headquarters, he deliberately stored food supplies at the Thomson Road home of the Little Sisters of the Poor so that the nuns there would have a ready supply of food.,"Japanese Players—Shinozaki Mamoru"
In April 1942, he continued to support the Kempeitai by identifying "hostile" residents. E. J. H. Corner wrote that when he was working in Raffles Museum, Shinozaki came to the museum to arrest Corner, because Mrs. Arbenz, a Swiss who was mentally affected by the Japanese occupation, had reported to Shinozaki that Corner was hostile to Japan.Corner, E. J. H., translated by Mikiko Ishii, Memory of Syonan Museum (in Japanese), Chuokoron Sha, 1982, pp.102-103
Supervisor of Overseas Chinese Association As the Special Advisor of Kempeitai, Shinozaki supervised Chinese leaders who were persuaded or forced to interact with JMA by founding The Overseas Chinese Association (OCA), a Japanese-sponsored body started on 2 March 1942 as the main representative of the Chinese community. The OCA was ordered to raise $50 million through compulsory "donations" although Shinozaki denied any involvement in the process in his biography.Nanyang Siang Pau, 31 July 1973 Page 12 Shinozaki wrote that the purpose of the OCA was to rescue Chinese leaders who were confined by the 25th Army but when later Colonel took over as the Chief Military Administrator, Shinozaki was removed from his post as the adviser to the OCA. Then, Takase and Wee Twee Kim abused the OCA to promote the $50M "donation". But Shinozaki's remark was inconsistent with many, similar associations that already existed in the Malay Peninsula through the Malayan Campaign, which was fought from December 1941 to January 1942. All of them were used to promote the "donations".Nanyang Siang Pau 18 July 1973 Page 14 He remarked that he left the OCA in early March 1942 because Colonel , the head of JMA, was moved to Borneo, but Managi remained in Singapore until 8 April 1942, when the "donations" had already been undertaken in Singapore.
He mainly managed English-speaking Chinese leaders, though Takase and Wee Twee Kim oppressed Chinese-speaking Chinese leaders during the same period. He also said that he made the list of persons who were not sustainable to the burden of the "donation" before he left the OCA.Nanyang Siang Pau 12 September 1972
Chief Education Officer Until June 1942, during the period when JMA's official staff hadn't arrived from Japan, Shinozaki was relocated to the Syonan municipal office as the Chief Education Officer. While the schools were still inactive, for the ceremony of The Emperor's Birthday scheduled to be held on 29 April 1942, Shinozaki taught children to sing Kimigayo and Aikoku Kōshinkyoku to please General Yamashita.
In June 1942, Shinozaki returned to Japan.According to his autobiography, his actions also made him highly unpopular with some in the Japanese military that in June 1942, he temporarily "disappeared" from Syonan with the help of the Navy to avoid their ire. According to his autobiography, he met with Shigenori Tōgō, Minister of Foreign Affairs, who rewarded his long imprisonment with "a thick wad of cash".
Chief Welfare Officer In August 1942, he went back to Singapore and became the Chief Welfare Officer of the Syonan municipal office. According to an interview of Shinozaki which was recorded in 1981, his task was to help the unemployed, provide financing, hold events which contributed to the welfare of civilians, protect the civilians from the Japanese Army or Kempeitai, and other miscellaneous tasks. According to his 1976 autobiography, the main task of the Welfare Office was to plan labor contributions for an assortment of Japanese defense projects. Shinozaki also wrote that he still managed Japanese-sponsored associations which were organized by different ethnic groups, such as the OCA or the Eurasian Welfare Association(EWA) under Dr. Charles Joseph Pemberton Paglar.
In this period, the Welfare Office issued "thousands of Good Citizen's Ticket" which was necessary to travel to the suburbs of Singapore (that was not to rescue the people from the threat of Sook Ching).Nanyang Siang Pau, 19 February 1973 page.14.
In mid 1943, M.Gaus, who was from Sumatera and had been a member of Malayan Welfare Association (MWA), was called by Shinozaki, who had supervised each "Welfare Associations", and attended a meeting. There were other members of MWA and the meeting was called to criticize Gaus. During the meeting, Gaus was blamed by Shinozaki for his opinion, which was based on Melayu Raya's attempt to disturb the unity of Malayan society. Shinozaki angrily requested Gaus to cooperate to maintain the unity of Malayan society because the "Holy War" was ongoing. Gaus wrote that he was confused by Shinozaki's groundless criticism.
"Evacuation" In September 1943, due to Operation Jaywick, the Southern Expeditionary Army Group became anxious about the recapture operation of the Allied army and the residents of Singapore, especially the Chinese and Eurasian residents. The Kempeitai started the Double Tenth incident and S.E.A.G. directed to Syonan municipal the "evacuation" of civilians. Shinozaki wrote that , the then Mayor of Syonan, told Shinozaki to carry out that mission and said that "I've heard the rumor that in Hong Kong they throw the civilians into the sea, but I don't want to do that. Please take measures which wouldn't let the civilians feel uneasy and forced."
Shinozaki suggested to the OCA and the EWA the "settlement" plan, on the surface was for the purpose of filling up the shortage of food. Shinozaki also wrote that he was reluctant to let the Eurasians move to Bahau, but Bishop Adrian Devals of the Catholic ChurchThe Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore, History of the Catholic Church in Singapore > Bishop Adrien Devals, MEP , modified time 2019-06-05 was eager to go there.