Takahira Kogoro

nihongo| Takahira Kogoro|高平 小五郎|Takahira Kogoro (January 1854 - 1926) was a Japanese diplomat and ambassador to the United States from 1900 to 1909.

Takahira was born in what is now Iwate Prefecture, one of the far north prefectures of the Tohoku region of the island of Honshu.Takahira Kogoro. (1920). [http://books.google.com/books?id=r8BPAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA220&dq=Takahira+Kogoro&lr= "Encyclopedia Americana," p. 220.] ] From relatively modest beginnings, Takahira was to become a graduate of "Kaisei Gakko" (the predecessor to Tokyo Imperial University).

Career diplomat

In 1876, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His first posting to the United States in 1879 was as an "attaché"; and he was promoted to secretary in 1881. During a return to Asia, he served briefly as "chargé d'affaires" in Korea and as Consul Gneral in Shanghai. In 1887, he returned to the United States as Consul General in New York City.Postings in Europe as Minister-Resident to Holland and Denmark, and as Minister Plenipotentiary at Rome, Vienna and Berne spanned the years before his 1901 return to Washington, D.C. He would continue as Japan's minister in the United States capital city from 1901 through 1905.

. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9902EFD61431E733A25754C1A9669D946497D6CF&scp=6&sq=order+of+meiji&st=p "Text of Treaty; Signed by the Emperor of Japan and Czar of Russia,"] "New York Times." October 17, 1905.]

In 1907, he was named Ambassador to Rome. The Foreign Ministry called him back to Washington, D.C. in 1908-1909.

As principal negotiator for Japan, his name is commemorated in the 1908 Root-Takahira Agreement, which was intended to ease Japanese-US tension by defining each nation's role in the Pacific arena and China.

He later elevated to "danshaku" (baron) under the "kazoku" peerage system, and was appointed to the House of Peers, and subsequently served on the Privy Council.

Honors

* Order of the Sacred Treasure, Grand Cordon. [MacMurray, John Van Antwerp. (1921). [http://books.google.com/books?id=bUQMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA522&dq=Takahira+Kogoro&lr= "Treaties and Agreements with and Concerning China, 1894-1919: A Collection," p. 522.] ]

Notes

References

* Beasley, W.G. "Japanese Imperialism 1894-1945". Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-822168-1
* Davis, Richard Harding, and Alfred Thayer Mahan. (1905). [http://books.google.com/books?id=z_dyHgAACAAJ&dq=Russo-Japanese+War:+A+Photographic+and+Descriptive+Review+of+the+Great+Conflict+in+the+Far+East.&client=firefox-a "The Russo-Japanese war; a photographic and descriptive review of the great conflict in the Far East, gathered from the reports, records, cable despatches, photographs, etc., etc., of Collier's war correspondents"] New York: P. F. Collier & Son. [http://www.worldcat.org/wcpa/oclc/21581015 OCLC: 21581015]
* Keene, Donald. (2002). [http://books.google.com/books?id=aReTQ9B33NMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Emperor+Of+Japan:+Meiji+And+His+World,[phone]&sig=ACfU3U00Fsv-n0bT-Nu0BTx5OYsDH7cnjg "Emperor Of Japan: Meiji And His World, 1852-1912."] New York: Columbia University Press. 10-ISBN 0-231-12340-X; 13-ISBN 978-0-231-12340-2 (cloth) -- 10-ISBN 0-231-12341-8
* Korostovetz, J.J. (1920). [http://books.google.com/books?id=-Na2xuUNziMC&dq=Pre-War+Diplomacy+The+Russo-Japanese+Problem&client=firefox-a "Pre-War Diplomacy The Russo-Japanese Problem."] London: British Periodicals Limited.
* MacMurray, John Van Antwerp. (1921). [http://books.google.com/books?id=bUQMAAAAYAAJ&dq=Takahira+Kogoro&lr=&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0 "Treaties and Agreements with and Concerning China, 1894-1919: A Collection."] Oxford: Oxford University Press.
* Morris, Edmund. 92002). "Theodore Rex". Modern Library; Reprint edition. ISBN 0-8129-6600-7

External links

* [http://www.meijimura.com/english/index.html The Museum Meiji Mura]