was a diplomat and government official of the in the Imperial Household Ministry. He was born in Hyūga Province. He was the third of four sons. His father, was an elder of the

Takanabe Domain The was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It was associated with Hyūga Province in modern-day Miyazaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu.

. His younger brother, , was an official in the Ministry of Agricultural and Trade Affairs, and contributed to the growth of the

Sumitomo The is one of the largest Japanese ''keiretsu'', or business groups, founded by Masatomo Sumitomo (1585-1652) around 1615 during the early Edo period. History The Sumitomo Group traces its roots to a bookshop in Kyoto founded circa 1615 by Masa ...

Zaibatsu. was his brother-in-law. He graduated from the Han school called founded by . He attended Kagoshima Medical School, but dropped out. He graduated from the Japanese Ministry of Justice

Law School A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction. Law degrees Argentina In Argentina, ...

. He worked in the Ministry of Justice for a time, but then became a diplomat. He worked as a diplomat to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, the Japanese ambassador to Belgium, and the ambassador extraordinary to Austria-Hungary, before leaving office in 1914. He worked as a plenipotentiary advisor at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. During his time as ambassador to Belgium, in 1908, he observed a British Boy Scout event. He reported his findings to others, which spread word of the

Boy Scout A Scout (in some countries a Boy Scout, Girl Scout, or Pathfinder) is a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement. Because of the large age and development span, many Scouting associations have split ...

movement to Japan. He was an editorial advisor for (and later president of) the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, worked as the head of the newspaper, and was also deputy leader of the . Together with the politician , he put much effort into the foundation of , "The Value-Creating Education Society", the former incarnation of

Soka Gakkai is a Japanese Buddhist religious movement based on the teachings of the 13th-century Japanese priest Nichiren as taught by its first three presidents Tsunesaburō Makiguchi, Jōsei Toda, and Daisaku Ikeda. It is the largest of the Japanese ...

. He later become the member of the lay organisation and praticising Nichiren Buddhism.

Sources

Much of this article was translated from the equivalent article in the Japanese Wikipedia, as retrieved on October 20, 2006. {{DEFAULTSORT:Akizuki, Satsuo 1858 births 1945 deaths Scouting in Japan Scouting pioneers Members of Sōka Gakkai Ambassadors of Japan to Austria Ambassadors of Japan to Belgium