was a Japanese diplomat who served as

ambassador to the United States The following table lists ambassadors to the United States, sorted by the representative country or organization. See also *Ambassadors of the United States Notes {{reflist, 30em External linksCurrent and former Ambassadors to the United Sta ...

Diplomatic career

Debuchi served as a diplomat in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, where he was head of the Japanese Foreign Office division which dealt with Chinese affairs. He later served as vice minister of foreign affairs for Japan. In 1928, Debuchi was appointed ambassador to the United States, succeeding

Tsuneo Matsudaira was a Japanese diplomat of the 20th century. Diplomatic and political career The son of Lord Matsudaira Katamori of Aizu, Tsuneo served as Japanese Ambassador to the United States. In 1929–1935 served as Ambassador to Britain, and in that ...

. He was due to leave his position during 1931, but remained in the position following the

Mukden Incident The Mukden Incident, or Manchurian Incident, known in Chinese as the 9.18 Incident (九・一八), was a false flag event staged by Japanese military personnel as a pretext for the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria. On September 18, 1931, L ...

. As an ambassador, he was well liked in the United States. In November 1933, Debuchi left his position as ambassador to the United States, apparently due to his failure to convince them not to oppose Japanese actions in

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China, Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 afte ...

(

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...

). However, he remained part of the Japanese diplomatic mission afterwards, visiting

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in 1935 as a

goodwill ambassador Goodwill ambassador is a post-nominal honorific title, a professional occupation and/or authoritative designation that is assigned to a person who advocates for a specific cause or global issue on the basis of their notability such as a public ...

Personal life

He and his wife Hama Kikuchi had a son Masaru Debuchi and a daughter Takako Debuchi. His son studied at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

. His daughter married

Kōichirō Asakai Kōichirō Asakai ( ja, 朝海浩一郎; 1906–1995) was a Japanese politician who served as ambassador to the United States and ambassador to the Philippines Asakai studied banking and graduated from Hitotsubashi University in 1929, before jo ...

, who served as ambassador to the United States. He died on August 19, 1947 from

intestinal cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel m ...

. He was a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Debuchi, Katsuji 1878 births 1947 deaths Ambassadors of Japan to the United States Japanese expatriates in China