Japan
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Chiefs of Mission for Japan
NOTE TO READERS
Updates to the Principal Officers and Chiefs of Mission database are currently suspended. For information about the Department’s current and recent leadership, we recommend visiting the Department of State homepage’s Biographies of Senior Officials and List of U.S. Ambassadors.
Notice posted on January 12, 2024.
Last
updated March 14, 2024.
Chiefs of Mission
- Townsend Harris (1804–1878)
- Minister Resident, November 5, 1859–April 26, 1862
- Robert Hewson Pruyn (1815–1882)
- Minister Resident, May 17, 1862–April 28, 1865
- Robert Bruce Van Valkenburgh (1821–1888)
- Minister Resident, May 4, 1867–November 11, 1869
- Charles E. De Long (1832–1876)
- Minister Resident, November 11, 1869–June 9, 1872
- Charles E. De Long (1832–1876)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, June 9, 1872–October 7, 1873
- John Armour Bingham (1815–1900)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, October 7, 1873–July 2, 1885
- Richard Bennet Hubbard (1832–1901)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, July 2, 1885–May 15, 1889
- John Franklin Swift (1829–1891)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, May 15, 1889–March 10, 1891
- Frank Leslie Coombs (1853–1934)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, June 13, 1892–July 14, 1893
- Edwin Dun (1848–1931)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, July 14, 1893–July 2, 1897
- Alfred Eliab Buck (1832–1902)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, July 3, 1898–December 4, 1902
- Lloyd Carpenter Griscom (1872–1959)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, June 22, 1903–November 19, 1905
- Luke Edward Wright (1846–1922)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, May 26, 1906–August 13, 1907
- Thomas James O’Brien (1842–1933)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, October 15, 1907–August 31, 1911
- Charles Page Bryan (1856–1918)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, November 22, 1911–October 1, 1912
- Larz Anderson (1866–1937)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, February 1, 1913–March 15, 1913
- George Wilkins Guthrie (1848–1917)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, August 7, 1913–March 8, 1917
- Roland Sletor Morris (1874–1945)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, October 30, 1917–May 15, 1920
- Charles Beecher Warren (1870–1936)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, September 24, 1921–January 28, 1922
- Cyrus E. Woods (1861–1938)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, July 21, 1923–June 5, 1924
- Edgar Addison Bancroft (1857–1925)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, November 19, 1924–July 27, 1925
- Charles MacVeagh (1860–1931)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, December 9, 1925–December 6, 1928
- William Richards Castle Jr. (1878–1963)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, January 24, 1930–May 27, 1930
- William Cameron Forbes (1870–1959)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, September 25, 1930–March 22, 1932
- Joseph Clark Grew (1880–1965)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, June 14, 1932–December 8, 1941
- Robert Daniel Murphy (1894–1978)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, May 9, 1952–April 28, 1953
- John Moore Allison (1905–1978)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, May 28, 1953–February 2, 1957
- Douglas MacArthur II (1909–1997)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, February 25, 1957–March 12, 1961
- Edwin Oldfather Reischauer (1910–1990)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, April 27, 1961–August 19, 1966
- Ural Alexis Johnson (1908–1997)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, November 8, 1966–January 15, 1969
- Armin Henry Meyer (1914–2006)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, July 3, 1969–March 27, 1972
- Robert Stephen Ingersoll (1914–2010)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, April 12, 1972–November 8, 1973
- James Day Hodgson (1915–2012)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, July 19, 1974–February 5, 1977
- Michael Joseph Mansfield (1903–2001)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, June 10, 1977–December 22, 1988
- Michael Hayden Armacost (1937–)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, May 15, 1989–July 19, 1993
- Walter F. Mondale (1928–)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, September 21, 1993–December 15, 1996
- Thomas Stephen Foley (1929–2013)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, November 19, 1997–April 1, 2001
- Howard Henry Baker Jr. (1925–2014)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, July 5, 2001–February 17, 2005
- John Thomas Schieffer (1947–)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, April 11, 2005–January 15, 2009
- John Victor Roos (1955–)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, August 20, 2009–August 12, 2013
- Caroline Bouvier Kennedy (1957–)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, November 19, 2013–January 18, 2017
- William F. Hagerty IV (?–)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, August 31, 2017–July 22, 2019
Other Nominees
- Chauncey Mitchell Depew (1834–1928)
- Minister Resident: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; declined appointment.