Keinosuke Fujii

Keinosuke Fujii (1888–1959), a Tokyo Imperial University graduate from Gunma, passed the diplomatic examination in 1913. Early assignments took him to Changchun, Honolulu, San Francisco, and Washington; he later worked in the ministry’s communications and personnel offices. He returned to overseas service in Britain and Germany before another Washington assignment. ¹

As chargé in September 1934, Fujii sought federal intervention against attacks on Japanese farmers in Arizona. His written protest reported gunfire directed at a farmer, explosives thrown near houses, and fields flooded after irrigation gates were destroyed. He asked the State Department to secure protection for Japanese residents and their property. William Phillips replied that the department had contacted Arizona authorities and forwarded Fujii’s protest to the governor. ^{2, 3}

Fujii subsequently served as chargé in London. In February 1936, he conveyed Japan’s willingness to consider preserving the Washington Naval Treaty’s restrictions on fortifying certain Pacific possessions. He arrived as minister to Czechoslovakia in March 1937; the Japanese mission closed in April 1939. He retired from the diplomatic service in 1940. ^{1, 4, 5}