Count was a Japanese diplomat.

Diplomatic career

He was born January 19, 1857, in

Hirosaki is a city located in western Aomori Prefecture, Japan. On 1 April 2020, the city had an estimated population of 168,739 in 71,716 households, and a population density of . The total area of the city is . Hirosaki developed as a castle town fo ...

Aomori is the capital city of Aomori Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 278,964 in 136,457 households, and a population density of 340 people per square kilometer spread over the city's total are ...

. In 1877 he went to study at

DePauw University DePauw University is a private liberal arts university in Greencastle, Indiana. It has an enrollment of 1,972 students. The school has a Methodist heritage and was originally known as Indiana Asbury University. DePauw is a member of both the ...

. He got his B.A. in 1881, and M.A. in 1884. In 1882 he married, and had one son. From 1890 to 1894, Chinda served as Japanese Consul in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

. In 1897 Chinda was appointed first Japanese Minister Plenipotentiary to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, following the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two states in 1895. He served as

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

ese Ambassador to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

from 1908 to 1911, to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

from 1912 to 1916 and to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

from 1916 to 1920, during which time he also took part in the Japanese delegation to the

Paris Peace Conference, 1919 Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. He was part of the Commission on Colonial Mandates, which drafted a mandates system that would subject of approval by the League of Nations members. He was also a Methodist minister. Ambassador Chinda Sutemi and his wife Japanese Viscountess Chinda Iwa were two of the diplomats involved with the Japanese gifting of the cherry blossom trees to Washington, D.C. in 1912. As official representatives of Japan, Ambassador Sutemi Chinda and his wife, Japanese Viscountess Iwa Chinda, joined with President Taft's wife, First Lady Helen Herron Taft on March 27, 1912. Each woman planted one of the recently arrived Yoshino cherry trees in the nation's capital onto the northern bank of the then empty landscape around the Washington, D.C. Tidal Basin, about 125 feet south of what is now Independence Avenue, SW. At the conclusion of the ceremony, the first lady presented a bouquet of "American Beauty" roses to Viscountess Chinda. Washington's renowned National Cherry Blossom Festival grew from this simple ceremony, witnessed by just a few persons. These two original trees still stand several hundred yards west of the John Paul Jones Memorial, located at the terminus of 17th Street, SW. Situated near the bases of the trees is a large bronze plaque which commemorates the occasion. This gift was officially seen as coming from the capital city of Japan, Tokyo, to the capital city of the United States, Washington, D.C. The illustrated biography ''The Art of Peace'' presents Prince Iyesato Tokugawa and his Japanese allies' pivotal involvement in bringing about the gifting of these cherry blossom trees as a means of promoting international goodwill. In 1915, while Count Chinda Sutemi was the Japanese Ambassador to the United States he greeted the visiting Japanese statesmen Baron Eiichi Shibusawa when Shibusawa visited New York City. The 1915 photo illustration to the right presents Chinda at the event honoring the visit of Baron Shibusawa which was attended by two former U.S. Presidents

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

and

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...

Honours

''From the Japanese Wikipedia article''

Titles

*Baron (21 September 1907) *Viscount (24 August 1911) *Count (7 September 1920)

Decorations (Japanese)

*Grand Cordon of the

Order of the Sacred Treasure The is a Japanese order, established on 4 January 1888 by Emperor Meiji as the Order of Meiji. Originally awarded in eight classes (from 8th to 1st, in ascending order of importance), since 2003 it has been awarded in six classes, the lowest tw ...

(1 April 1906; Third Class: 5 March 1902; Fourth Class: 28 June 1898; Fifth Class: 31 October 1895) *Grand Cordon of the

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight f ...

(14 September 1907) *Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers (7 September 1920)

Court order of precedence

*Seventh rank (27 November 1886) *Sixth rank (21 December 1891) *Senior sixth rank (20 September 1895) *Senior fifth rank (20 August 1897) *Fourth rank (31 January 1901) *Senior fourth rank (20 March 1906) *Third rank (30 April 1909) *Senior third rank (11 May 1914) *Second rank (30 May 1921) *Senior second rank (1 June 1928) *First rank (16 January 1929)

Diplomatic career

Honours

Titles

Decorations (Japanese)

Court order of precedence

See also

References

Further reading