Aoki Shūzō

Aoki Shūzō

Aoki Shūzō ( Japanese 青木 周 蔵 ; * March 3, 1844 in Nagato Province (today: Yamaguchi Prefecture ); †  February 16, 1914 in Nasu ) was a Japanese diplomat and politician with a special relationship to Germany.

Life

Aoki grew up in Hagi , attended the Han School there and studied medicine in Nagasaki . In 1868 he was sent to Germany to study. There he switched to economics and politics. In 1872 he became the spokesman for Japanese students in northern Germany. In 1873 he advised the Iwakura mission on their visit to Berlin. After joining the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs , he was appointed envoy in Berlin in 1874, and then again in 1880–1885 and 1892–1897. He was foreign minister several times: 1889–1891 in the 1st Yamagata cabinet , 1891 in the 1st Matsukata cabinet and 1898–1900 in the 2nd Yamagata cabinet . He was successful in lifting the Unequal Treaties of Japan. At the end of his diplomatic career, he became ambassador to the United States . From 1877 he was married to a German nobleman, Elisabeth von Rhade (1849–1915).

Berlin hub

Aoki's country house in Nasushiobara

Aoki had a Western-style country house built in Nasu (today the city of Nasushiobara , Tochigi Prefecture ) by his friend from Berlin times, the architect Matsugasaki Tsumunaga (1858–1921) . This house has been extensively restored in recent years and added to the list of Japan's Valuable Cultural Objects. Matsugasaki came to Berlin with the Iwakura mission , studied at the Technical University in Charlottenburg under Hermann Ende and did not return to Japan until 1885. In Japan he brokered construction contracts for Hermann Ende. a. the Japanese Ministry of Justice was executed. The building has been extensively restored in recent years. Matsugasaki recommended Aoki in 1888 as the first chairman of the newly founded architects' association.

literature

• Okada Yoshiharu (ed. And author): Aoki Shūzō Nasu bessō . [The country house of Aoki Shūzō] 1995
• Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedy . Kodansha, 1993, ISBN 4-06-205938-X .
• Janet Hunter: Concise Dictionary of Modern Japanese History . Kodansha International, 1984

Web links

Commons : Aoki Shūzō  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Biography (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ FD: Japan in Berlin . In: The Gazebo . Issue 35, 1872, pp. 568-570 ( full text [ Wikisource ]).

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus, Aoki is the family name, Shūzō the first name.