{"record":{"aliases":[],"appointmentIds":["japan-8e03687858f538"],"appointmentsDataset":"https://chanceries.org/diplomats.json","archivalSources":[],"canonicalUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/sadao-saburi-f67cb5b930/","countrySlug":"japan","entityId":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/sadao-saburi-f67cb5b930/#person","eventIds":[],"expandedParagraphs":["Sadao Saburi was born in Tokyo in 1879 and entered the Foreign Ministry after graduating from Tokyo Imperial University in 1905. Service in France and the United States led to work at the Paris Peace Conference and the Washington Conference. He became one of Ambassador Kijūrō Shidehara’s closest assistants, carrying messages to British and American negotiators during the Washington discussions.","Saburi took charge of the Washington embassy after Shidehara returned to Japan for his health in 1922. On June 24 he transmitted Japan’s announcement that its forces would leave the Russian Maritime Province by the end of October. He also conveyed Tokyo’s agreement to cancel the Lansing–Ishii notes of 1917. Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes accepted that cancellation on January 2, 1923, citing the newer principles agreed at Washington.","As director of the ministry’s Commerce and Treaties Bureau, Saburi became a principal Japanese negotiator at the Beijing Tariff Conference of 1925–26. He supported Chinese tariff autonomy while seeking terms favorable to Japanese trade. Shidehara selected him as minister to China in 1929. After presenting his credentials, Saburi returned to Japan for consultations and died in Hakone that November. The circumstances of his death remained disputed."],"id":"japan:sadao saburi","identifiers":{},"legacyPersonIds":[],"legacyUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplomat-f67cb5b930fe9ad31028.html","name":"Sadao Saburi","notes":[],"paragraphSources":[["saburi-mofa","shidehara-anu-ch2"],["shidehara-anu-ch2","saburi-siberia","saburi-cancellation"],["saburi-mofa"]],"profileUrl":"diplomat-f67cb5b930fe9ad31028.html","relatedEvents":[],"relatedPeople":[{"certainty":"documented","name":"Kijūrō Shidehara","note":"Saburi assisted Shidehara and carried messages during the Washington Conference.","profileUrl":"diplomat-feef7d736f3c7083791f.html","sourceIds":["shidehara-anu-ch2"],"targetId":"japan:kijuro shidehara","type":"colleague"}],"relationships":[{"certainty":"documented","note":"Saburi assisted Shidehara and carried messages during the Washington Conference.","sourceIds":["shidehara-anu-ch2"],"targetId":"japan:kijuro shidehara","type":"colleague"}],"researchStatus":"reviewed","reviewedOn":"2026-10-28","revision":"b20badb98e1e95d2","sources":[{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":null,"id":"saburi-mofa","locator":"Diplomatic Archives reference answer, career account","publisher":"Diplomatic Archives, Ministry of Foreign Affairs / National Diet Library","title":"外交官・佐分利貞男について知りたい","type":"official-biography","url":"https://crd.ndl.go.jp/reference/entry/index.php?id=1000075493&page=ref_view"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":null,"id":"shidehara-anu-ch2","locator":"Washington Conference and Shidehara's departure, particularly discussion of Saburi","publisher":"ANU Press","title":"Shidehara Kijūrō and His Time, chapter 2","type":"scholarship","url":"https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/n9244/html/ch02.xhtml?page=5&referer="},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"1922-06-24","id":"saburi-siberia","locator":"FRUS 1922, volume II, document 743","publisher":"U.S. Department of State","title":"The Japanese Chargé (Saburi) to the Secretary of State","type":"primary-record","url":"https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1922v02/d743"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"1923-01-02","id":"saburi-cancellation","locator":"FRUS 1922, volume II, document 528","publisher":"U.S. Department of State","title":"The Secretary of State to the Japanese Chargé (Saburi)","type":"primary-record","url":"https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1922v02/d528"}],"topics":["Washington Conference","Chinese tariff autonomy","Siberian intervention"]},"schemaVersion":1}