Yakichirō Suma

Yakichirō Suma (1892–1970) entered the Foreign Ministry after graduating in law from Chuo University in 1919. As consul general in Nanjing from 1933, he dealt with the Nationalist government before serving in the Washington embassy. He later headed the ministry’s Information Department and became minister to Spain. ¹

In Washington, Suma defended Japan’s expanding war in China. On 13 October 1938, he told the State Department’s Maxwell Hamilton that the recent landing in southern China aimed to interrupt Chinese munitions routes, denying that Japan intended to attack Hong Kong or prepare further southward expansion. Suma expressly said he was speaking without instructions. Hamilton challenged the assurances, pointing to the repeated damage to American lives, property, and treaty rights. ²

After the war, Suma was detained as a suspected Class A war criminal and excluded from public office. He was released in 1948, the exclusion ended in 1951, and he won election to the House of Representatives in 1953, eventually serving two terms. His career also left substantial museum collections: he bought contemporary Chinese painting, including works by Qi Baishi, and supported Japanese artists working in China. Paintings collected during his Spanish posting went to Nagasaki, while material from his Chinese collection entered the Kyoto National Museum. ^{1, 3}