Akira Ariyoshi

Akira Ariyoshi was a Japanese diplomat during the Shōwa era. He was the first ever diplomat from Japan to China to hold the rank of Ambassador Plenipotentiary.

Biography

He is one of the foundational figures of the League of Nations, being assigned as Japan's Head Delegate to its 2nd session. He was Japan's representative at many committees of the League, including being present for the creation of the Opium Advisory Committee. During his time spent as the Japanese plenipotentiary in Brazil, Ariyoshi argued fervently against expansion into the Amazon rainforest, which he considered a sacred place, and advocated for a policy of what he called concretization: building where you already exist. Aryioshi also came into a contentious relationship with the Kaigai Kogyo Kaisha, the Japanese organization dedicated to Japanese settlements in Brazil, informing the Brazilian government and his own that this type of mass settlement would create great anti-Japanese sentiments in Brazilian society.
While in China, Ariyoshi preferred soft power over military action, forming a friendship with the General Zhang Xueliang and other Chinese Generals sympathetic to the Japanese, but Ariyoshi also served here at the pleasure of Minister Hirosi Saito, which was a complex and contentious relationship. He had also formed friendships with Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei. Especially in the years leading up to the Second Sino-Japanese War, Ariyoshi was opposed Japanese military action in China, and retired in 1936 out of protest. However, he died less than a year later.