Kenji Doihara: Japan’s “Narco-General” Behind the Invasion of Manchuria

World History: True Stories of the 20th Century · Mar 16, 2026 · 13m

Kenji Doihara, an Imperial Japanese Army general and intelligence officer, became one of the key architects of Japan’s expansion into China and the creation of the puppet state of Manchukuo.

Kenji Doihara was one of the most notorious architects of Imperial Japan’s expansion into China and a central figure in the chain of events that helped ignite the wider conflict in Asia during the Second World War. Born in 1883 in Okayama, he rose through the ranks of the Imperial Japanese Army, combining military training with intelligence work that would define his career. Fluent in Chinese and deeply…