DOCSLIB.ORG

KATO TAKAAKI, 1860-1926 a Remarkable Diplomat and Statesman [London, Minister ]895-1900; Ambassador 1908-12]

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
KATO TAKAAKI, 1860-1926 a Remarkable Diplomat and Statesman [London, Minister ]895-1900; Ambassador 1908-12] 8 KATO TAKAAKI, 1860-1926 A Remarkable Diplomat and Statesman [London, Minister ]895-1900; Ambassador 1908-12] IAN NISH Kato Takaaki ato Takaaki (1860-1926) had a remarkable record as diplomat and foreign K minister. He spent about a quarter of his career overseas and was foreign minister four times. He had th e good fortune to be able to combine diplomatic service abroad with high office in Tokyo. Since his only overseas postings were in Britain, he occupies a special place in the diplomacy of Anglo-Japanese relations. Among Japanese he was one of the greatest admirers of the institutions of Victorian-Edwardian Britain . Both in the Japanese Embassy in London and in Japan he achieved many of the goals he set for himself. But his temperament was brusque, puritanical, straight-talking and individualistic. Perhaps for that reason he is not generally given the credit for his achievements as one of Japan's greatest diplomats.1 Kato was born in Owari outside the area of the clans who had engineered the Meiji Restoration in 1868 and therefore without any special connections in government. In December 1882, after graduating from Tokyo Imperial University, which had just been established, he took up his first employment with Mitsubishi. He joined the sea transportation department, the main branch of the company at the time. After postings at Kobe, Osaka and Otaru, he was sent to London in April 1883 for study abroad (ryi1gaku) . He stayed at 33 Kings Road, Finsbury Park, north London.f But much of his time was spent in Liverpool, which had the reputation as the hub of global shipping at the time. In order to learn the technicalities of his trade, he was assisted by James Bowes, a prominent merchant who is described in Kate's biography as a Japanophile ('shin-Nichi'). Returning to London, Kato studied customs procedures and the shipping and insurance market, staying at 190 Stanhope Street, NW. There he got to know Mutsu Munemitsu, later to become foreign minister, who was spending 18 months in Europe for study and was based in London for most of that period. Kato developed a great respect for Mutsu which had much effect on the direction KATO TAKAAKI, 1860-1926 81 his career would take. It was Mutsu who persuaded him on two occasions to join the Foreign Ministry. Kato left London in April 1885 and travelled around Europe on his way back to japan. These early experiences of Europe were to influence his career deeply," At the end of his overseas stint he married the eldest daughter of Iwasaki Yataro (of the Mitsubishi house) who had died shortly before. This gave him wealth and valuable connections. He was charged with planning the merger of his company and the state-owned shipping line. Soon, however, he chose to desert the private sector and entered the Foreign Ministry in january 1887. He became private secretary to Okuma Shigenobu as foreign minister and was to play an important part both as interpreter and negotiator in the talks on treaty revision. After Okuma's fall from grace, he switched to the Finance Ministry. This double-barrelled experience in the bureaucracy was to prove helpful in his career, though he was later to claim that he was a non-bureaucratic politician. His old friend and senior, Mutsu, became foreign minister in the Ito ministry from August 1892. When the Sino-japanese war began in August 1894, Kato gladly returned to the Foreign Ministry and was appointed temporary chief of the political affairs section (seimu kyokuchii). He attained the rank of minister plenipotentiary and negotiated the conclusion of the japan-Korea Defence Agreement. In October he became attached to the General Headquarters (Daihonei) at Hiroshima, an indication of his importance to Mutsu. With Hayashi Tadasu and Hara Takashi, he made up a strong team of roung officials who supported Mutsu during the travails of wartime diplomacy. SINO-JAPANESE WAR, 1894-5 The military and naval aspects of the war swung in japan's favour; and the Chinese were forced to sue for peace. The Sino-japanese peace negotiations were convened at Shimonoseki on 20 March 1895. But China had already been canvassing for the support of the Powers, hoping that they would intervene or exercise some influence on her behalf. It was Vital, therefore, for japan to preempt any desire they had for intervention. Foreign Minister Mutsu had been expecting action by the Powers since early in the war. He recognized that japan was unpopular with Britain because she had not taken up British offers of mediation before and during the war. Mutsu assumed that this frigidity was also due to Britain's friendship with China and made it his objective to win over Britain to goodwill towards japan. japan found herself, as happened all too often, under-represented abroad for the task. The existing incumbent who superintended the legations in Berlin and London, Aoki Shuzo, could not cope with the two posts during wartime and had in any case antagonized Mutsu. With great urgency Kato was appointed Minister to the Court of St james's on 23 November. He set off by way of Canada one month later, reaching London on 23 january 1895. For Kato to receive this responsible assignment at the young age of 35 was a sign of Mutsu's confidence in him. He was naturally overjoyed to take over japan's top diplomatic post at a critical time for his country. From his first meeting with the foreign secretary of the Liberal government, Lord Kimberley, on 4 February, Kato felt that they established a fine personal rapport but perceived that japan had still much persuasion to do." japan passed over the draft of her peace terms to China, which were leaked by the Chinese to most of the powers including Britain. Kato reported to Tokyo his impression that.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Japan Between the Wars
    JAPAN BETWEEN THE WARS The Meiji era was not followed by as neat and logical a periodi- zation. The Emperor Meiji (his era name was conflated with his person posthumously) symbolized the changes of his period so perfectly that at his death in July 1912 there was a clear sense that an era had come to an end. His successor, who was assigned the era name Taisho¯ (Great Righteousness), was never well, and demonstrated such embarrassing indications of mental illness that his son Hirohito succeeded him as regent in 1922 and re- mained in that office until his father’s death in 1926, when the era name was changed to Sho¯wa. The 1920s are often referred to as the “Taisho¯ period,” but the Taisho¯ emperor was in nominal charge only until 1922; he was unimportant in life and his death was irrelevant. Far better, then, to consider the quarter century between the Russo-Japanese War and the outbreak of the Manchurian Incident of 1931 as the next era of modern Japanese history. There is overlap at both ends, with Meiji and with the resur- gence of the military, but the years in question mark important developments in every aspect of Japanese life. They are also years of irony and paradox. Japan achieved success in joining the Great Powers and reached imperial status just as the territo- rial grabs that distinguished nineteenth-century imperialism came to an end, and its image changed with dramatic swiftness from that of newly founded empire to stubborn advocate of imperial privilege. Its military and naval might approached world standards just as those standards were about to change, and not long before the disaster of World War I produced revul- sion from armament and substituted enthusiasm for arms limi- tations.
    [Show full text]
  • America's Withdrawal from Siberia and Japan-US Relations
    The Japanese Journal of American Studies, No. 24 (2013) America’s Withdrawal from Siberia and Japan-US Relations Shusuke TAKAHARA* INTRODUCTION Japan-US relations after the Russo-Japanese War (1904–5) were gradually strained over the Open Door in Manchuria, the naval arms race in the Pacific, and Japanese immigration into the United States. After the Russo-Japanese War, Japan emerged as a regional power and proceeded to expand its interests in East Asia and the Pacific. The United States also emerged as an East Asian power in the late nineteenth century and turned its interest to having an Open Door in China and defending the Western Pacific. During World War I the relationship of the two countries deteriorated due to Japanese expansion into mainland China (Japan’s Twenty-One Demands on China in 1915). As the Lansing-Ishii agreement (1917) indicated, their joint war effort against Germany did little to diminish friction between Japan and the United States. After World War I, however, the Wilson administration began to shift its policy toward Copyright © 2013 Shusuke Takahara. All rights reserved. This work may be used, with this notice included, for noncommercial purposes. No copies of this work may be distributed, electronically or otherwise, in whole or in part, without permission from the author. *Associate Professor, Kyoto Sangyo University 87 88 SHUSUKE TAKAHARA Japan from maintaining the status-quo to warning against Japanese acts. Wilson hoped to curb Japanese expansion in East Asia and the Pacific without isolating it by cooperating in the establishment of a new Chinese consortium and a joint expedition to Siberia, as well as in founding the League of Nations.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Reexaminating TERAUCHI Masatake's Character
    February 2019 Issue Reexaminating TERAUCHI Masatake's Character - As a “Statesman”- KANNO Naoki, Cheif, Military Archives, Center for Military History Introduction What comes to mind when you think of TERAUCHI Masatake (1852 - 1919)? For example, at the beginning of the Terauchi Cabinet (October 1616 - September 1918), it was ridiculed as being both anachronistic and a non-constitutional cabinet. Using NISHIHARA Kamezo, also known as Terauchi's private secretary, he provided funds of up to 110 million yen to the Duan Qirui government in northern China (the Nishihara Loans). The so-called Rice Riots broke out in his final year, and Siberian Intervention began. Terauchi was also called a protégé of YAMAGATA Aritomo, the leading authority on Army soldiers from former Choshu domain (Choshu-han). On the other hand, what about the succeeding Hara Cabinet (September 1918 - November 1921)? Exactly 100 years ago, HARA Takashi had already started the cabinet that consists of all political party members, except for the three Ministers of the Army, Navy, and Foreign Affairs. After the World War I, a full-on party politics was developed in Japan as global diplomatic trends drastically changed. Compared to Hara, Terauchi has not been evaluated. After Chinese-Japanese relations deteriorated following the Twenty-One Demands in 1915, the aforementioned Nishihara Loans, implemented for recovery, were over-extended to the only northern part of China, the Duan Qirui government only for a limited time. Then, ultimately, the Loans did not lead an improvement in relationships. Thus it can be said that, until recently, Terauchi's character has been almost entirely neglected by academia.
    [Show full text]
  • Imperial Japanese Propaganda and the Founding of the Japan Times 1897-1904
    Volume 19 | Issue 12 | Number 2 | Article ID 5604 | Jun 15, 2021 The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus Imperial Japanese Propaganda and the Founding of The Japan Times 1897-1904 Alexander Rotard Abstract: Founded in 1897 as a semi-official government organ by Zumoto Motosada with the support of Itō Hirobumi and Fukuzawa Yukichi, The Japan Times played an essential role, as the first English-language newspaper to be edited by Japanese, in shaping Western understandings of Japan and Japanese modernisation in the late 19th to early 20th centuries. The Japan Times framed Japanese ‘modernisation’ in the language of Western civilisation, thus facilitating Japan’s rapprochement with the Western Powers (particularly with Great Britain) in the late 19th century by presenting Japan as a ‘civilised’ (i.e., Western) nation-state. The paper played an equally important role in manipulating Western public discourses in favour of Japan’s expansionist ambitions in Asia by framing justifications for Japanese foreign policy in concepts of Western civilisation. Keywords: Meiji-era Japanese propaganda, Zumoto Motosada, founder of The Japan Times1 The Japan Times, Zumoto Motosada, Japanese Imperialism, Anglo-Japanese rapprochement, colonisation of Korea. Introduction . Despite The Japan Times’ critical role as a Japanese Government propaganda organ, the paper has been greatly understudied in both the Japanese and English literature. Japanese- language studies of The Japan Times and Zumoto Motosada exist in small number2 but thorough research into The Japan Times’ role as a promoter of Meiji Government propaganda 1 19 | 12 | 2 APJ | JF has yet to be undertaken in English orthe Korean press has been well examined by Japanese.
    [Show full text]
  • Yalın Akçevin History of Modern Japan 1 Between Empire And
    Yalın Akçevin History of Modern Japan Between Empire and Democracy: Japan’s Taishō Experience Beginning under the reign of the Taishō emperor, with the cabinet of the first commoner Prime Minister Hara Takashi in 1918, the Empire of Japan experienced a period of democratic and liberal ascendancy until 1932, when Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi was assassinated on May 15 by young naval officers wherewith a definitive slide towards militarism took hold. Looking at the rise and fall of this section of the Taishō Democracy period, which lasted for fourteen years between 1918 and 1932, I would argue that the rise and decline of democracy and liberalism in Imperial Japan coincided with the fall and rise of an aggressive empire building campaign in Asia. Furthermore, despite being a “failure” in the practice of democracy and liberalism, the experience of the Taishō Democracy does not show that democracy and liberalism have been – and/or still are – incompatible with and are fundamentally alien to Japan. What the Japanese experience in this period rather shows is that democracy in this period rested on shaky grounds with a weak defense, which allowed it to be washed aside by more aggressive forces bent on imposing their will on Imperial Japan. Looking into the rise of democratic and liberal political trends in 1918, one thing that can be seen definitively is that these developments came at a time when the peacetime empire of Japan reached its greatest extent, the pursuit of empire calmed down, and equality with the West was thought to be achieved. Japan was a victorious Allied power and a party to the Paris Peace Conference that would follow in 1919, the empire stretched from Korea to “South Seas” in Micronesia, and there was a noticeable lack of immediate enemies to the empire with the West in alliance, Russia in turmoil, and China crippled as it had been for the past half century.
    [Show full text]
  • Why an American Quaker Tutor for the Crown Prince? an Imperial Household's Strategy to Save Emperor Hirohito in Macarthur's
    WHY AN AMERICAN QUAKER TUTOR FOR THE CROWN PRINCE? AN IMPERIAL HOUSEHOLD’S STRATEGY TO SAVE EMPEROR HIROHITO IN MACARTHUR’S JAPAN by Kaoru Hoshino B.A. in East Asian Studies, Wittenberg University, 2007 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts University of Pittsburgh 2010 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This thesis was presented by Kaoru Hoshino It was defended on April 2, 2010 and approved by Richard J. Smethurst, PhD, UCIS Research Professor, Department of History Akiko Hashimoto, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology Clark Van Doren Chilson, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Religious Studies Thesis Director: Richard J. Smethurst, PhD, UCIS Research Professor, Department of History ii Copyright © by Kaoru Hoshino 2010 iii WHY AN AMERICAN QUAKER TUTOR FOR THE CROWN PRINCE? AN IMPERIAL HOUSEHOLD’S STRATEGY TO SAVE EMPEROR HIROHITO IN MACARTHUR’S JAPAN Kaoru Hoshino, M.A. University of Pittsburgh, 2010 This thesis examines the motives behind the Japanese imperial household’s decision to invite an American Christian woman, Elizabeth Gray Vining, to the court as tutor to Crown Prince Akihito about one year after the Allied Occupation of Japan began. In the past, the common narrative of scholars and the media has been that the new tutor, Vining, came to the imperial household at the invitation of Emperor Hirohito, who personally asked George Stoddard, head of the United States Education Mission to Japan, to find a tutor for the crown prince. While it may have been true that the emperor directly spoke to Stoddard regarding the need of a new tutor for the prince, the claim that the emperor came up with such a proposal entirely on his own is debatable given his lack of decision-making power, as well as the circumstances surrounding him and the imperial institution at the time of the Occupation.
    [Show full text]
  • Agony of Choice: Matsuoka Yosuke and the Rise and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1880-1946 (Review)
    Agony of Choice: Matsuoka Yosuke and the Rise and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1880-1946 (review) Frederick R. Dickinson The Journal of Japanese Studies, Volume 30, Number 1, Winter 2004, pp. 167-171 (Review) Published by Society for Japanese Studies DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/jjs.2004.0003 For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/55092 [ This content has been declared free to read by the pubisher during the COVID-19 pandemic. ] 06-J2906-REV 1/9/04 6:28 AM Page 167 Review Section 167 Agony of Choice: Matsuoka Yo¯suke and the Rise and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1880 –1946. By David J. Lu. Lexington Books, Lanham, Md., 2002. xvii, 309 pages. $75.00. Reviewed by Frederick R. Dickinson University of Pennsylvania History, Sir Walter Scott once noted, is peopled by living beings—“not ab- stractions... not diagrams and theorems; but men in buff coats and breeches, with color in their cheeks, with passions in their stomach and the idioms, features and vitalities of very men.” In this era of moral and analytic “complexity” and preference for the experience of a hitherto voiceless mul- titude, historians can rarely admit to an interest in “men in buff coats and breeches.” American Japan specialists have produced few biographies of Great Men in recent years. David Lu’s study follows the pattern of the most notable exceptions. Like Louis Perez, Herbert Bix, and Donald Keene,1 Lu belongs to an earlier generation of scholars who intuitively grasp the power of narrative history and the import of the lives of Great Men.
    [Show full text]
  • Smaa Journal
    Vol. 17, Issue 2 SMAA JOURNAL Shudokan Martial Arts Association ▪ PO Box 6022, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-6022 http://smaa-hq.com/ ▪ [email protected] ▪ 1-734-645-6441 ANNOUNCEMENTS OBJECTIVES OF THE SMAA 2012 DUES 1. To promote and aid in the growth of Japan’s traditional arts and ways. SMAA dues should have been paid on the first of January, 2012. Please make a point of sending 2. To assist the public in achieving spiritual your check or money order to our Michigan growth and physical development through headquarters on or before this date. You can also budo/bujutsu. pay online with a major credit card at 3. To further friendship and understanding http://smaa-hq.com/payments.php. Prompt between Asian and Western martial artists. payment helps the SMAA to run smoothly, and it reduces the amount of labor and cost associated 4. To establish goodwill and harmony among with sending late dues notices. martial artists of various systems. 5. To offer Western martial artists access to A NOTE TO MEMBERS OF THE SMAA legitimate budo/bujutsu organizations and We have recently become aware of at least one teachers in Japan. other martial arts group that uses the acronym 6. To give practitioners of authentic “SMAA.” Please note that the Shudokan Martial budo/bujutsu recognition for their years of Arts Association is not affiliated with any other devotion to these arts. group or organization that uses SMAA to identify itself. Though we do not believe any careful BOARD OF DIRECTORS observer would confuse our thoughtful, ▪ Karl Scott Sensei traditional approach with that of another ▪ Nicklaus Suino Sensei organization, we suggest that you be sure to type ▪ H.
    [Show full text]
  • Who Should Govern: the Political Reformation After the First World
    Kobe University Repository : Kernel タイトル Who Should Govern: The Political Reformation after the First World Title War in Japan 著者 Murai, Ryouta Author(s) 掲載誌・巻号・ページ Kobe University law review,36:19-43 Citation 刊行日 2002 Issue date 資源タイプ Departmental Bulletin Paper / 紀要論文 Resource Type 版区分 publisher Resource Version 権利 Rights DOI JaLCDOI 10.24546/00387151 URL http://www.lib.kobe-u.ac.jp/handle_kernel/00387151 PDF issue: 2021-10-02 19 Who Should Govern: The Political Reformation after the First World War in Japan1 Ryota Murai2 In modern Japan, the Meiji Constitution created a bicameral Imperial Diet, which included a House of Representatives with members chosen by direct election. However, this was not what made the party cabinet system a necessity. Rather, it was because the Meiji Constitutional system was a multiple union of many organs, such as the Privy Council and the House of Peers. The House of Representatives was also one of them. The selection of the prime minister was not based on the intentions of the House of Representatives, but rather on the elder statesmen (genro)’s consensus directed by protocol. Nevertheless, under the slogans like “Protecting the Constitutional Government (Kensei-Yogo)” or “The Normal way of the Constitutional Government (Kensei-Jodo),” the situation slowly changed. The politics that made the House of Representatives and political parties an axis became the undercurrent that was hard to suppress. During the final stages of the First World War, Takashi Hara, the leader of the Seiyukai, the majority party of the House of Representatives, formed his own cabinet; and over a span of eight years, from 1924 to 1932, this was the time when the party leader possessed political power.
    [Show full text]
  • The Flexible Structure of Politics in Meiji Japan
    DLPPolicy and Practice for Developmental Leaders, Elites and Coalitions DEVELOPMENTAL LEADERSHIP PROGRAM Research Paper 07 The Flexible Structure of Politics in Meiji Japan Junji Banno, Professor Emeritus, The University of Tokyo and Kenichi Ohno, Professor Emeritus., The University of Tokyo April 2010 www.dlprog.org The Developmental Leadership Program (DLP) addresses an important gap in international thinking and policy about the critical role played by leaders, elites and coalitions in the politics of development. This growing program brings together business, academic and civil society partners from around the world to explore the role of human agency in the processes of development. DLP will address the policy, strategic, and operational implications about ‘thinking and working politically’ - for example, about how to help key players solve collective action problems, negotiate effective institutions and build stable states. The Developmental Leadership Program E: [email protected] W: www.dlprog.org 3 Abstract Japan’s transformation period following the encounter with the powerful West, in which the political regime was revised and new national goals and strategies were agreed, started with the signing of commercial treaties with the West in 1858 and ended with the settlement on the basic directions of political and economic reforms in 1881. In the intervening years, two goals of establishing a public delib- eration mechanism (kogi yoron) and raising economic and military capability (fukoku kyohei) were set, which later split into four policy groups of a constitution, a national assembly, industrialization, and foreign expedition. The simultaneous pursuit and eventual achievement of multiple goals was supported by the flexible structure of politics in which goals, alliances, and leaders and leading groups evolved dynamically without solidifying into a simple hard structure or falling into uncontrollable crisis.
    [Show full text]
  • Japan Looking at the World Looking at Japan : European Expansion Into
    Japan Looking at the World Looking at Japan European Expansion into East Asia, the Formation of the Japanese Concept and Perception of Colonial Rule as well as European Responses c. 19001 Harald Kleinschmidt, Tokyo An Interactionist Approach to the History of International Relations On 8 February 1868, the newly installed Meiji Government of Japan issued its proclamation nr 5. In this proclamation, it declared that it would honor the treaties that had been concluded between Japan and states in Europe and North America since 1854, but that it would also seek their revision in ac- cordance with ‘universal public law’ 宇内の公法 (udai no kōhō). On behalf of the government, Higashikuze Michitomi 東久世通禧, then in office as Director General Agency for Foreign Affairs 外国事務総督 (Gaikoku Jimu Sōtoku), communicated the contents of the proclamation to foreign diplo- matic envoys then accredited in Japan.2 The proclamation thus articulated the perception that there was a hierarchy of two legal frameworks that could be addressed for different, if not mutually exclusive purposes. Within this 1 Paper read to the Historical Institute of the University of Greifswald, 24 April 2017. 2 GENERAL AGENCY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS 外国事務総督 (Gaikoku Jimu Sōtoku): “Gaikō ni kan suru Fukokusho 外交に関スル布告書” (Government Proclamation Relating to Diplomacy [dated 8 February 1868 = 15th day of the first month of year Keio 4, concerning the treaties between Japan and other states, written by ŌKUBO Toshimichi 大 久保利道 and MUTSU Munemitsu 陸奥宗光]), Dai Nihon gaikō monjo 大日本外交文書 (Diplomatic Records of Japan), nr 97, vol. 1, Nihon Kokusai Kyōkai 日本国際協会 1938: 227–28. HIGASHIKUZE Michitomi: Nikki 日記 (Diary), vol.
    [Show full text]
  • Appendix SCAPIN 919, “Removal and Exclusion of Diet Member”
    Appendix SCAPIN 919, “Removal and Exclusion of Diet Member” May 3, 1946 a. As Chief Secretary of the Tanaka Cabinet from 1927 to 1929, he necessarily shares responsibility for the formulation and promulgation without Diet approval of amendments to the so-called Peace Preservation Law which made that law the government’s chief legal instrument for the suppression of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, and made possible the denunciation, terror- ization, seizure, and imprisonment of tens of thousands of adherents to minor- ity doctrines advocating political, economic, and social reform, thereby preventing the development of effective opposition to the Japanese militaristic regime. b. As Minister of Education from December 1931 to March 1934, he was responsible for stifling freedom of speech in the schools by means of mass dismissals and arrests of teachers suspected of “leftist” leanings or “dangerous thoughts.” The dismissal in May 1933 of Professor Takigawa from the faculty of Kyoto University on Hatoyama’s personal order is a flagrant illustration of his contempt for the liberal tradition of academic freedom and gave momentum to the spiritual mobilization of Japan, which under the aegis of the military and economic cliques, led the nation eventually into war. c. Not only did Hatoyama participate in thus weaving the pattern of ruth- less suppression of freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of thought, hut he also participated in the forced dissolution of farmer-labor bodies. In addition, his indorsement of totalitarianism, specifically in its appli- cation to the regimentation and control of labor, is a matter of record.
    [Show full text]