British Ambassador to Japan | |
---|---|
Foreign and Commonwealth Office British Embassy, Tokyo | |
Style | Her Excellency |
Reports to | Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs |
Appointer | King Charles III |
Term length | At His Majesty's pleasure |
Inaugural holder | Sir Claude MacDonald |
Formation | 1905 |
Salary | £115,000-£120,000 [1] |
Website | British Embassy Tokyo |
The Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Japan is the United Kingdom's foremost diplomatic representative in Japan, and is the head of the UK's diplomatic mission there.
The following is a chronological list of British heads of mission (ministers and ambassadors) in Japan from 1859. Before 1905, there were no ambassadors exchanged between the two countries, the highest rank being envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary –a rank just below ambassador. Before 1859, there was no treaty and no diplomatic relations, because Japan was isolated from the world by the Tokugawa shogunate's policy of national isolation called sakoku (literally locked country).
Head of mission | Tenure begins | Tenure ends | British monarch | Japanese emperor |
---|---|---|---|---|
James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin [2] | 1858 | 1858 | Queen Victoria | |
Sir Rutherford Alcock [3] | 1859 | 1865 | ||
Sir Harry Parkes [4] | 1865 | 1883 | ||
Sir Francis Plunkett [5] | 1884 | 1887 | ||
Hugh Fraser [6] | 1889 | 1894 | ||
Power Henry Le Poer Trench [7] | 1894 | 1895 | ||
Sir Ernest Satow [8] | 1895 | 1900 | ||
Sir Claude MacDonald [9] [10] | 1900 | 1905 |
Head of mission | Tenure begins | Tenure ends | British monarch | Japanese emperor |
---|---|---|---|---|
Sir Claude MacDonald [10] | 1905 | 1912 | ||
Sir Conyngham Greene [11] | 1912 | 1919 | George V | |
Sir Charles Eliot [12] | 1919 | 1925 | ||
Sir John Tilley [13] | 1926 | 1931 | ||
Sir Francis Lindley [14] | 1931 | 1934 | ||
Sir Robert Clive [ citation needed ] | 1934 | 1937 | ||
Sir Robert Craigie [15] | 1937 | 1941 | ||
No representation (1941–1946, due to World War II)
Head of mission | Tenure begins | Tenure ends | British monarch | Japanese emperor |
---|---|---|---|---|
Sir Esler Dening [17] | 1952 | 1957 | Elizabeth II | |
Sir Daniel Lascelles [18] | 1957 | 1959 | ||
Sir Oscar Morland [19] | 1959 | 1963 | ||
Sir Francis Rundall [20] | 1963 | 1967 | ||
Sir John Pilcher [21] | 1967 | 1972 | ||
Sir Fred Warner | 1972 | 1975 | ||
Sir Michael Wilford | 1975 | 1980 | ||
Sir Hugh Cortazzi | 1980 | 1984 | ||
Sir Sydney Giffard | 1984 | 1986 | ||
Sir John Whitehead | 1986 | 1992 | ||
Sir John Boyd | 1992 | 1996 | ||
Sir David Wright | 1996 | 1999 | ||
Sir Stephen Gomersall | 1999 | 2004 | ||
Sir Graham Fry | 2004 | 2008 | ||
Sir David Warren | 2008 | 2012 | ||
Tim Hitchens [22] | 2012 | 2016 | ||
Paul Madden [23] | 2017 | 2021 | ||
Julia Longbottom [24] | 2021 | Elizabeth II Charles III |
The Japanese missions to Imperial China were diplomatic embassies which were intermittently sent to the Chinese imperial court. Any distinction amongst diplomatic envoys sent from the Japanese court or from any of the Japanese shogunates was lost or rendered moot when the ambassador was received in the Chinese capital.
Sir Ernest Mason Satow,, was a British diplomat, scholar and Japanologist. He is better known in Japan, where he was known as Satō Ainosuke, than in Britain or the other countries in which he served as a diplomat. He was a key figure in late 19th-century Anglo-Japanese relations.
Colonel Sir Claude Maxwell MacDonald, was a British soldier and diplomat, best known for his service in China and Japan.
Sir Francis Richard Plunkett was an Anglo-Irish diplomat.
Sir Robert Leslie Craigie, GCMG, CB, PC was the British ambassador in Japan from 1937 to 1941.
Viscount Aoki Shūzō was a Japanese politician and diplomat who served as foreign minister during the Meiji era.
James Edward Hoare is a British academic and historian specialising in Korean and Chinese studies, and a career diplomat in the British Foreign Office.
Sir Robert Henry Clive was a British diplomat.
The Japanese missions to Tang China were Japanese efforts to learn Chinese culture and civilization from Tang China, in the 7th, 8th and 9th centuries. The nature of those contacts evolved gradually from political and ceremonial change into cultural exchanges, and the process accompanied growing commercial ties which developed over time.
Sir Oscar Charles Morland GBE was a British diplomat. He was the British Ambassador in Japan and Indonesia.
Hanabusa Yoshitada, also known as Hanabusa Yoshimoto, was a Japanese politician, diplomat and peer.
Power Henry Le Poer Trench was a British diplomat.
Sir John Anthony Cecil Tilley was a British diplomat. He was British Ambassador to Brazil from 1921 to 1925, and Ambassador to Japan from 1926 to 1931.
Charles Egbert DeLong was an American diplomat who served as the Envoy to Japan during the mid-19th century.
Sir Esler Maberley Dening GCMG OBE was a British diplomat. He was the first British Ambassador to Japan after the end of the Second World War.
Sir Alvary Douglas Frederick Trench-Gascoigne GBE, KCMG was a British diplomat.
Sir Daniel William Lascelles KCMG was a British diplomat. He was the British Ambassador in Ethiopia, Afghanistan and Japan.
Japanese missions to Baekje represent an aspect of the international relations of mutual Baekje-Japanese contacts and communication. The bilateral exchanges were intermittent.
Japanese missions to Silla represent an aspect of the international relations of mutual Silla-Japanese contacts and communication. The bilateral exchanges were intermittent.