Kijuro Shidehara: Encyclopedia II - Kijuro Shidehara - Early life

Kijuro Shidehara - Early life

Shidehara was born in Osaka and attended Tokyo Imperial University, graduating from the Faculty of Law. In 1915, he was appointed Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and was given ambassadorial powers during the Washington Naval Conference. In 1924, he became Minister of Foreign Affairs in the cabinet of Kato Takaaki, and continued in this post under Wakatsuki Reijiro and Hamaguchi Osachi.

Shidehara followed a non-interventionist policy toward China, then attempting to stabilize its relations with Britain and the United States. The term "Shidehara diplomacy" came to describe Japan's liberal foreign policy during the 1920s, and was assailed by military interests who believed it was weakening the country, especially after the conclusion of the London Naval Conference in 1930. In October of 1931, Shidehara was featured on the cover of TIME with the caption "Japan's Man of Peace and War." [1] He left politics after the Manchurian Incident and maintained a low profile through the end of World War II.

During his diplomatic career, Shidehara was known for his excellent command of the English language. At one press conference, an American reporter was confused regarding the pronunciation of Shidehara's name: the foreign minister replied, "I'm Hi(he)-dehara, and my wife is Shi(she)-dehara."

He was a baron before the abolition of the Japanese peerage system.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Early life", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki