{"record":{"aliases":["Aoki Shūzō","Aoki Shuzo","Shuzo Aoki","青木周蔵"],"appointmentIds":["japan-81557a7d434899"],"appointmentsDataset":"https://chanceries.org/diplomats.json","archivalSources":[],"canonicalUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/shuzo-aoki-b7eb7f7bb6/","countrySlug":"japan","entityId":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/shuzo-aoki-b7eb7f7bb6/#person","eventIds":[],"expandedParagraphs":["Shūzō Aoki began as a medical student from Chōshū and went to Germany in 1868. He entered the Foreign Ministry in 1873 and became minister to Germany the following year. Long residence in Europe shaped both his career and his family life: he married Elisabeth von Rhade in 1877, and their daughter Hanna was born two years later.","Aoki served repeatedly as foreign minister and worked with Munemitsu Mutsu on treaty revision. As minister in London in 1894, he helped secure the new Anglo-Japanese commercial treaty. He later dealt with the Boxer crisis as foreign minister and became a member of the Privy Council.","In 1906 Aoki became Japan’s first ambassador to the United States after the Washington legation was raised to an embassy. His mission coincided with the dispute over Japanese immigration. On his way home in January 1908, he met members of the Japanese community in San Francisco. Contemporary reporting also circulated an alleged interview about exclusion that Aoki denied.","His Washington correspondence also conveyed Japan’s consolidation of power in Korea. In July 1907 he sent Secretary of State Elihu Root the new agreement requiring the Japanese resident-general’s assent for Korean laws, major administrative decisions, and senior appointments. Aoki returned to Japan in 1908 and died in 1914."],"id":"japan:shuzo aoki","identifiers":{},"legacyPersonIds":[],"legacyUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplomat-b7eb7f7bb64cc0740b13.html","name":"Shūzō Aoki","notes":[],"paragraphSources":[["aoki-ndl","aoki-heritage"],["aoki-ndl"],["aoki-protocol","aoki-departure"],["aoki-korea","aoki-heritage"]],"profileUrl":"diplomat-b7eb7f7bb64cc0740b13.html","relatedEvents":[],"relatedPeople":[],"relationships":[],"researchStatus":"reviewed","reviewedOn":"2026-10-28","revision":"55cfc0066bd7a6be","sources":[{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":null,"id":"aoki-ndl","locator":"Biographical text","publisher":"National Diet Library","title":"青木周蔵","type":"official-biography","url":"https://www.ndl.go.jp/portrait/datas/1/"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":null,"id":"aoki-heritage","locator":"Paragraph about adopted son Aoki Shuzo","publisher":"Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism","title":"Former Aoki Shūsuke Residence","type":"institutional-history","url":"https://www.mlit.go.jp/tagengo-db/common/001563898.pdf"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":null,"id":"aoki-protocol","locator":"May 3, 1906 entry","publisher":"U.S. Department of State, Office of the Chief of Protocol","title":"Japan — Diplomatic Representation for Japan","type":"primary-record","url":"https://2009-2017.state.gov/s/cpr/rls/94066.htm"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"1908-01-06","id":"aoki-departure","locator":"Page 1, Aoki reports","publisher":"Morning Oregonian / University of Oregon Libraries","title":"Japan Would Take Offense; Reception Tendered Aoki","type":"contemporary-report","url":"https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025138/1908-01-06/ed-1/seq-1/"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"1907-07-26","id":"aoki-korea","locator":"FRUS 1907, part II, document 190, note and enclosure","publisher":"U.S. Department of State","title":"The Japanese Ambassador to the Secretary of State","type":"primary-record","url":"https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1907p2/d190"},{"accessedOn":"","date":"","id":"mission-e3ec9f7c507b455faf3c","locator":"","publisher":"","title":"Shūzō Aoki — mission record (1906–1908)","type":"Mission record","url":"https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1906p2/papers"}],"topics":["treaty revision","German–Japanese relations","immigration","Korean sovereignty"]},"schemaVersion":1}