Kensuke Horinouchi

Kensuke Horinouchi entered the Foreign Ministry in 1911 after graduating from Tokyo Imperial University. He served in Britain, as consul general in Qingdao and New York, and as counselor in China. He later combined leadership of the Research Department and American Affairs Bureau, became vice minister in 1936, and was appointed ambassador to the United States in 1938. ¹

His Washington assignment coincided with the deterioration of commercial relations. On July 26, 1939, Secretary of State Cordell Hull formally notified Horinouchi that the United States would terminate the 1911 Treaty of Commerce and Navigation after six months. ²

Recalled during Foreign Minister Yōsuke Matsuoka's 1940 personnel changes, Horinouchi later helped train diplomats after the war. He returned to an overseas ambassadorship in 1955, representing Japan to the Republic of China on Taiwan until 1959, and also served as vice president of Japan's United Nations Association. He died in 1979. ¹