{"record":{"aliases":[],"appointmentIds":["japan-04adc96b64f5e8"],"appointmentsDataset":"https://chanceries.org/diplomats.json","archivalSources":[],"canonicalUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/sutemi-chinda-7afb57685a/","countrySlug":"japan","entityId":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/sutemi-chinda-7afb57685a/#person","eventIds":[],"expandedParagraphs":["Sutemi Chinda came from Hirosaki and studied at Tōō Gijuku before traveling to Indiana with Aimaro Satō. He graduated from Indiana Asbury University in 1881. His subsequent diplomatic career included service in San Francisco, Brazil, and Germany before his appointment to Washington. Satō, his fellow student and later fellow ambassador, became his brother-in-law.","In Washington, Chinda protested California’s 1913 alien land law. His submissions argued that restrictions on Japanese residents’ property rights conflicted with the protections established by the 1911 treaty.","The posting also coincided with Tokyo’s gift of flowering cherry trees to Washington. On March 27, 1912, Chinda’s wife and First Lady Helen Taft planted the first two Yoshino trees beside the Tidal Basin.","Chinda moved to the London embassy in 1916 and represented Japan at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. He subsequently joined the Privy Council and accompanied Crown Prince Hirohito on his European journey. His final service was as grand chamberlain to the emperor; he died in January 1929."],"id":"japan:sutemi chinda","identifiers":{},"legacyPersonIds":[],"legacyUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplomat-7afb57685a1bf24930ff.html","name":"Sutemi Chinda","notes":[],"paragraphSources":[["chinda-kotobank","sato-hirosaki","chinda-npg"],["chinda-land-law"],["chinda-cherry-trees"],["chinda-kotobank","chinda-npg"]],"profileUrl":"diplomat-7afb57685a1bf24930ff.html","relatedEvents":[],"relatedPeople":[{"certainty":"documented","name":"Aimaro Satō","note":"Chinda married Sato’s sister.","profileUrl":"diplomat-eaa9d8f5f77105890696.html","sourceIds":["sato-hirosaki"],"targetId":"japan:aimaro sato","type":"brother_in_law"}],"relationships":[{"certainty":"documented","note":"Chinda married Sato’s sister.","sourceIds":["sato-hirosaki"],"targetId":"japan:aimaro sato","type":"brother_in_law"}],"researchStatus":"reviewed","reviewedOn":"2026-10-28","revision":"d8a70675bee6943f","sources":[{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":null,"id":"chinda-kotobank","locator":"Biographical entries","publisher":"Kotobank / Japanese biographical dictionaries","title":"珍田捨巳","type":"reference","url":"https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%8F%8D%E7%94%B0%E6%8D%A8%E5%B7%B3-852594"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":null,"id":"sato-hirosaki","locator":"Study-abroad and family passages, especially p. 8","publisher":"City of Hirosaki","title":"佐藤愛麿","type":"institutional-history","url":"https://www.city.hirosaki.aomori.jp/manabinomachi/jinbutsu12_sato.pdf"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":null,"id":"chinda-npg","locator":"Sitter biography","publisher":"National Portrait Gallery","title":"Count Sutemi Chinda","type":"institutional-history","url":"https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp75790/count-sutemi-chinda?displayStyle=thumb"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"1913","id":"chinda-land-law","locator":"FRUS 1913, document 727, aide-mémoire referring to May 9 and June 4 protests","publisher":"U.S. Department of State","title":"The Japanese Ambassador to the Secretary of State","type":"primary-record","url":"https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1913/d727"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":null,"id":"chinda-cherry-trees","locator":"1912 entries","publisher":"National Park Service","title":"History of the Cherry Trees","type":"institutional-history","url":"https://www.nps.gov/subjects/cherryblossom/history-of-the-cherry-trees.htm"},{"accessedOn":"","date":"2012-11-19","id":"mission-5a397b8676ad6894559b","locator":"Modern chief names and protocol dates through Kenichiro Sasae; Historical diplomatic representation from 1891; Embassy raised in 1906, wartime interruption, reopening in 1952","publisher":"","title":"Diplomatic Representation for Japan","type":"Mission record","url":"https://2009-2017.state.gov/s/cpr/rls/94066.htm"},{"accessedOn":"","date":"","id":"mission-ecaf5526b32d47e22cfc","locator":"","publisher":"","title":"Sutemi Chinda — mission record (1912–1916)","type":"Mission record","url":"https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1913/papers"}],"topics":["immigration","California alien land law","cherry trees","Paris Peace Conference"]},"schemaVersion":1}