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This is a Japanese name; the family name is Yoshida.

Shigeru Yoshida
Prime Minister of Japan
45th Prime Minister of Japan
In office May 22, 1946 – May 24, 1947
Preceded by	Shidehara Kijuro
Succeeded by	Katayama Tetsu
48th, 49th, 50th, 51st Prime Minister of Japan
In office October 15, 1948 – December 10, 1954
Preceded by	Ashida Hitoshi
Succeeded by	Hatoyama Ichiro
Born	September 22, 1878 Tokyo, Japan
Died	October 20, 1967 (aged 89) Tokyo, Japan
Political party	Liberal
Occupation	Cabinet Minister

Shigeru Yoshida (吉田 茂, Yoshida Shigeru^?), September 22, 1878–October 20, 1967, was a Japanese diplomat and politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1946 to 1947 and from 1948 to 1954. His policies, emphasizing Japan's economic recovery and a reliance on United States military protection at the expense of independence in foreign affairs, became known as the Yoshida Doctrine and shaped Japanese foreign policy during the Cold War era and beyond.

Yoshida was born in Tokyo and educated at Tokyo Imperial University. He entered Japan's diplomatic corps in 1906 just after Japan's victory against Russia in the Russo-Japanese War. He was Japan's ambassador to Italy and the United Kingdom during the 1930s and finally retired from his last appointment as ambassador to London in 1938. Throughout the 1930s and before the war ended in the early 1940s, Yoshida continued to participate in Japan's imperialist movement. After several months' imprisonment in 1945, he became one of Japan's key postwar leaders.

Yoshida became the 45th prime minister on May 22, 1946. His pro-American and pro-British ideals and his knowledge of Western societies, gained through education and political work abroad are what made him the perfect candidate in the eyes of the Post-WWII Allied Occupation. After being replaced with Tetsu Katayama on May 24, 1947, he returned to the post as the 48th prime minister on October 15, 1948.

Under Yoshida's rule, Japan began to rebuild its lost industrial infrastructure and placed a premium on unrestrained economic growth. Many of these concepts still impact Japan's political and economic policies, however since the 1970s environmental movement, the bursting of Japan's economic bubble, and the end of the Cold War, Japan has been struggling to redefine its national goals.

He was retained in three succeeding elections (49th: February 16, 1949; 50th: October 30, 1952; and 51st: May 21, 1953), and was finally ousted on December 10, 1954, when he was replaced by Ichirō Hatoyama. He retired from the Diet of Japan in 1955.

Yoshida's grandson, Tarō Asō, is an active Japanese politician.

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