Takahira Kogoro
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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.
Born in what is now Iwate Prefecture, Takahira was a graduate of Kaisei Gakko (the predecessor to Tokyo Imperial University). In 1876, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He served as ambassador to Austria-Hungary, and to Italy, before becoming Vice Minister in 1899.
As ambassador to the United States from 1900, Takahira participated in a number of important Japanese-US negotiations, including the Treaty of Portsmouth in 1905, which ended the Russo-Japanese War, and the Root-Takahira Agreement in 1908, which eased 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.
[edit] References
- Beasley, W.G. Japanese Imperialism 1894-1945. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-822168-1
- Keane, Donald. Emperor Of Japan: Meiji And His World, 1852-1912. Columbia University Press (2005). ISBN 0-231-12341-8
- Morris, Edmund. Theodore Rex. Modern Library; Reprint edition (2002). ISBN 0-8129-6600-7
