Ishii Kikujirō

Viscount Ishii Kikujirō (石井 菊次郎, April 24, 1866 – May 25, 1945), was a Japanese diplomat and cabinet minister in Meiji, Taishō and early Shōwa period Japan. He served as Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Empire of Japan between 1915 and 1916.

Biography

Ishii was born in Mobara city, Kazusa Province (present-day Chiba Prefecture). He graduated from the Law Department of Tokyo Imperial University and joined the Foreign Ministry. His first posting was as an attaché to Paris in 1891, and he was later sent to Chemulpo, Korea in 1896 and to Beijing, China in 1897. During the Boxer Rebellion he served as Japanese diplomatic liaison with the various foreign interventionist armies, spending six months on the front with the Imperial Japanese Army's 5th Infantry Division.

Ishii was appointed Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs under the 1st and 2nd Katsura administrations from 1908-1912, and was created a baron (danshaku) in the kazoku (peerage) on 24 August 1911; he had previously been appointed a Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure on 13 June. After a term as Japanese ambassador to France from 1912–15, he became Minister for Foreign Affairs under the 2nd Ōkuma administration from 1915–16, playing a major role in the normalization of relations between Japan and Russia.