Hachir? Arita or Arita Hachir? (21 September 1884 ¡V 4 March 1965) was a Japanese politician and diplomat who served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs for three terms. He is believed to have originated the concept of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Arita became Foreign Minister under the cabinet of Prime Minister K?ki Hirota in 1936, and continued to serve in that post under theministrations of Fumimaro Konoe and Kiichir? Hiranuma and Mitsumasa Yonai. He was also a member of the House of Peers in the Diet of Japan from 1938.