Sadao Saburi

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. ^{1, 2}

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. ^{2, 3, 4}

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. ¹