List of ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Japan explained

Post:	British Ambassador to Japan
Insignia:	Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government) (2022).svg
Insigniasize:	120px
Insigniacaption:	Royal Arms of His Majesty's Government
Department:	Foreign and Commonwealth Office British Embassy, Tokyo
Incumbent:	Julia Longbottom
Incumbentsince:	March 2021
Style:	Her Excellency
Appointer:	King Charles III
Reports To:	Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Termlength:	At His Majesty's pleasure
Inaugural:	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 plenipotentiarya 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).

List of heads of mission

Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary

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]	1900	1905

Ambassadors

Head of mission	Tenure  begins	Tenure  ends	British monarch	Japanese emperor
Sir Claude MacDonald	1905	1912
Sir Conyngham Greene^[10]	1912	1919	George V
Sir Charles Eliot^[11]	1919	1925
Sir John Tilley^[12]	1926	1931
Sir Francis Lindley^[13]	1931	1934
Sir Robert Clive	1934	1937
Sir Robert Craigie^[14]	1937	1941

No representation (1941–1946, due to World War II)

Political Representative

• Sir Alvary Gascoigne (1946–1951) ^[15]
• Sir Esler Dening (1951–1952)^[16]

Ambassadors

Head of mission	Tenure  begins	Tenure  ends	British monarch	Japanese emperor
Sir Esler Dening	1952	1957	Elizabeth II
Sir Daniel Lascelles^[17]	1957	1959
Sir Oscar Morland^[18]	1959	1963
Sir Francis Rundall^[19]	1963	1967
Sir John Pilcher^[20]	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^[21]	2012	2016
Paul Madden^[22]	2017	2021
Julia Longbottom^[23]	2021		Elizabeth II Charles III

See also

• British Embassy, Tokyo
• Embassy of Japan, London
• Japan–United Kingdom relations
  • Anglo-Japanese Friendship Treaty
  • Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce
  • Anglo-Japanese Alliance
  • Treaty of San Francisco
• Foreign and Commonwealth Office
• Foreign relations of the United Kingdom

References

• Hoare, James. (1999). Embassies in the East: the Story of the British Embassies in Japan, China, and Korea from 1859 to the Present. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press. ; OCLC 42645589
• Ian Nish. (2004). British Envoys in Japan 1859-1972. Folkestone, Kent: Global Oriental. ; OCLC 249167170
• Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan Encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ; OCLC 48943301

External links

• Web site: UK and Japan . gov.uk.
• Web site: Previous ambassadors to Japan . 21 Mar 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130213151646/http://ukinjapan.fco.gov.uk/en/about-us/our-embassy/our-ambassador/previous-ambassadors . British Embassy Tokyo . 13 February 2013 . dead .
• Web site: History of the Embassy . 20 Oct 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130213063428/http://ukinjapan.fco.gov.uk/en/about-us/our-embassy/embassy-history . British Embassy Tokyo . 13 February 2013 . dead .

Notes and References

1. Web site: Senior staff and salary data, September 2019 - GOV.UK . gov.uk . . 3 March 2021 . en.
2. Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric et al. (2005). "Elgin, James Bruce, Eighth Duke of" in ; n.b., Louis-Frédéric is pseudonym of Louis-Frédéric Nussbaum, see Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Authority File .
3. Nussbaum, "Alcock, Rutherford,"
4. Nussbaum, "Parkes, Harry Smith,"
5. Ian Nish. (2004). British Envoys in Japan 1859-1972, pp. 53-62.
6. Nish, pp. 63-71.
7. Nish, pp. 72-77.
8. Nussbaum, "Satow, Ernest Mason,"
9. Nish, pp. 94-102.
10. Nish, pp. 103-113.
11. Nussbaum, "Eliot, Charles Norton Edgcumbe,"
12. Nish, pp. 123-131.
13. Nish, pp. 132-139.
14. Nish, pp. 140-156.
15. Hoare, James. (1999).
16. Nish, pp. 173-178.
17. Nish, pp. 179-184.
18. Nish, pp. 185-193.
19. Nish, pp. 194-201.
20. Nish, pp. 202-216.
21. Web site: Hello (again) Japan . British Embassy Tokyo . 3 Dec 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130213211221/http://ukinjapan.fco.gov.uk/en/news/?view=News&id=840697982 . 13 February 2013 . dead .
22. Web site: Ambassador's Video Message: Paul Madden arrives in Japan . British Embassy Tokyo . 18 January 2017 . 25 January 2017.
23. Web site: Change of Her Majesty's Ambassador to Japan: Julia Longbottom . British Embassy Tokyo . 14 December 2020 . 3 March 2021.