Setsuzō Sawada

Setsuzō Sawada trained in law at Tokyo Imperial University before entering the Foreign Ministry. His diplomatic career included Washington, representation at the League of Nations, and the ambassadorship in Brazil. ¹

As chargé in Washington in June 1928, Sawada presented Tokyo’s proposed changes to the treaty renouncing war that became the Kellogg–Briand Pact. The objections concerned language describing the treaty makers and their peoples: Japan wanted wording consistent with the emperor’s constitutional treaty powers. Sawada also discussed whether separate arbitration and conciliation treaties should await the broader pact. Under Secretary Robert Olds urged that the negotiations proceed independently, and Sawada agreed to convey that position to Tokyo. ²

After the war, Sawada served on the Education Reform Committee and supported turning Tokyo’s foreign language college into a university. The university archives credit him with bringing American approaches to area studies into these discussions. He became the first president of Tokyo University of Foreign Studies in August 1949 and remained until December 1955, encouraging study of contemporary conditions abroad. ^{1, 3}