The following is a chronological list of British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 heads of mission (ministers and ambassadors) in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, 1859–. Before 1905, there were no ambassadors exchanged between the two countries, the highest rank being envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary

Plenipotentiary

The word plenipotentiary has two meanings. As a noun, it refers to a person who has "full powers." In particular, the term commonly refers to a diplomat fully authorized to represent his government as a prerogative...

a rank just below ambassador. Before 1859, there was no treaty and no diplomatic relations, because Japan was isolated from the world by the Tokugawa shogunate

Tokugawa shogunate

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...

's policy of national isolation called sakoku

Sakoku

was the foreign relations policy of Japan under which no foreigner could enter nor could any Japanese leave the country on penalty of death. The policy was enacted by the Tokugawa shogunate under Tokugawa Iemitsu through a number of edicts and policies from 1633–39 and remained in effect until...

(literally locked country).

Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary

Head of mission	Tenure  begins	Tenure  ends	British monarch	Japanese emperor
James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin	1858	1858	Queen Victoria	Kōmei Emperor Komei was the 121st emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Kōmei's reign spanned the years from 1846 through 1867.-Genealogy:Before Kōmei's accession to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name was ;, his title was ....
Sir Rutherford Alcock Rutherford Alcock Sir Rutherford Alcock KCB was the first British diplomatic representative to live in Japan.-Early life:Alcock was the son of the physician, Dr. Thomas Alcock, who practised at Ealing, near London. As he grew up, Alcock followed his father into the medical profession...	1859	1864
Sir Harry Parkes Harry Smith Parkes Sir Harry Smith Parkes was a 19th century British diplomat who worked mainly in China and Japan...	1865	1883		Meiji Emperor Meiji The or was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, reigning from 3 February 1867 until his death...
Sir Francis Plunkett	1884	1887
Hugh Fraser	1889	1894
Power Henry Le Poer Trench	1894	1895
Sir Ernest Satow	1895	1900
Sir Claude MacDonald	1900	1905	Edward VII Edward VII of the United Kingdom Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...

Ambassadors

Head of mission	Tenure  begins	Tenure  ends	British monarch	Japanese emperor
Sir Claude MacDonald	1905	1912	Edward VII Edward VII of the United Kingdom Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...	Meiji Emperor Meiji The or was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, reigning from 3 February 1867 until his death...
Sir William Conyngham Greene William Conyngham Greene Sir William Conyngham Greene KCB, GCMG, PC was a British diplomat.He was the ambassador in Tokyo in 1912–1919.-Selected works:Some of Greene's writings were posthumously published....	1912	1919	George V George V of the United Kingdom George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....	Taishō Emperor Taishō The was the 123rd emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession, reigning from 30 July 1912, until his death in 1926.The Emperor’s personal name was . According to Japanese customs, the emperor has no name during his reign and is only called the Emperor...
Sir Charles Eliot Charles Eliot (diplomat) Sir Charles Norton Edgecumbe Eliot GCMG, PC was a British knight diplomat, colonial administrator and botanist. He served as Commissioner of British East Africa in 1900-1904. He was British Ambassador to Japan in 1919-1925.He was also known as a malacologist and marine biologist...	1919	1925
Sir John Tilley John Tilley (diplomat) Sir John Anthony Cecil Tilley PC, GCMG, GCVO, CB was a British diplomat. He was British Ambassador to Brazil from 1921 to 1925, and Ambassador to Japan from 1926 to 1931.-Early life:...	1926	1931		Shōwa
Sir Francis Lindley Francis Oswald Lindley Sir Francis Oswald Lindley CB, CBE, PC, KCMG was a British diplomat, HM Consul-General in Russia, 1919, British High Commissioner in Vienna, 1919 to 1920, Ambassador to Austria, 1920 to 1921, Ambassador to Greece, 1922 to 1923, Minister in Oslo, 1923 to 1929; Ambassador to Portugal, 1929 to 1931,...	1931	1934
Sir Robert Clive Robert Clive (diplomat) Sir Robert Henry Clive GCMG, PC , was a British diplomat.-Early life:Clive was the son of Charles Meysey Bolton Clive and the great-grandson of Edward Clive. His mother was Lady Katherine Elizabeth Mary Julia, daughter of William Feilding, 7th Earl of Denbigh. He was educated at Haileybury College...	1934	1937
Sir Robert Craigie Robert Craigie (diplomat) Sir Robert Craigie GCMG, CB was the British ambassador in Japan from 1937 through 1941.-Career as Ambassador:In July 1939 took part in negotiations with Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Hachiro Arita, leading to the acceptance of the Craigie-Arita formula, by which the British government...	1937	1941	George VI George VI of the United Kingdom George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...

No representation (1941–1946, due to World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

)

Political Representative

• Sir Alvary Gascoigne
  Alvary Gascoigne
  Alvary Douglas Frederick Trench-Gascoigne GBE, KCMG was a British diplomat.-Early life:Alvary Douglas Frederick Trench-Gascoigne was born on 6 August 1893...
  
   (1946–1951)

• Sir Esler Dening
  Esler Dening
  Maberley Esler Dening GCMG OBE was a British diplomat. He was the first British Ambassador to Japan after the end of the Second World War.-Career:...
  
   (1951–1952)

Ambassadors

Head of mission	Tenure  begins	Tenure  ends	British monarch	Japanese emperor
Sir Esler Dening Esler Dening Maberley Esler Dening GCMG OBE was a British diplomat. He was the first British Ambassador to Japan after the end of the Second World War.-Career:...	1952	1957	Elizabeth II	Shōwa Hirohito , posthumously in Japan officially called Emperor Shōwa or , was the 124th Emperor of Japan according to the traditional order, reigning from December 25, 1926, until his death in 1989. Although better known outside of Japan by his personal name Hirohito, in Japan he is now referred to...
Sir Daniel Lascelles Daniel Lascelles Daniel William Lascelles KCMG was a British diplomat. He was the British Ambassador in Ethiopia, Afghanistan and Japan.-Early life:Daniel William Lascelles was the son of Hon. William Horace Lascelles and Madeline Barton...	1957	1959
Sir Oscar Morland Oscar Morland Oscar Charles Morland was a British diplomat. He was the British Ambassador in Japan and Indonesia.-Early life:Oscar Charles Morland was son of Harold John Morland....	1959	1963
Sir Francis Rundall	1963	1967
Sir John Pilcher John Arthur Pilcher Sir John Arthur Pilcher GCMG was a British diplomat, capping a long career with a posting as Her Majesty's ambassador to Austria and as ambassador to Japan .-Career:...	1967	1972
Sir Fred Warner Frederick Warner (diplomat) Sir Frederick Archibald Warner, GCVO, KCMG was British diplomat and businessman who at the end of his career was elected to the European Parliament.-Education:...	1972	1975
Sir Michael Wilford	1975	1980
Sir Hugh Cortazzi Hugh Cortazzi Sir Arthur Henry Hugh Cortazzi, GCMG is a British diplomat. Best known as Hugh Cortazzi, he is also a distinguished international businessman, academic, author and prominent Japanologist...	1980	1984
Sir Sydney Giffard	1984	1986
Sir John Whitehead	1986	1992		Akihito Akihito is the current , the 125th emperor of his line according to Japan's traditional order of succession. He acceded to the throne in 1989.-Name:In Japan, the emperor is never referred to by his given name, but rather is referred to as "His Imperial Majesty the Emperor" which may be shortened to . In...
Sir John Boyd John Boyd (ambassador) Sir John Dixon Ikle Boyd KCMG was the master of Churchill College, Cambridge from 1996 to 2006. He has also been the British ambassador to Japan, between 1992 and 1996....	1992	1996
Sir David Wright David Wright (diplomat) Sir David John Wright GCMG LVO is a former British diplomat who served as British Ambassador to Japan 1996-1999.-Early life:David Wright was educated at Wolverhampton Grammar School, and at Peterhouse, University of Cambridge....	1996	1999
Sir Stephen Gomersall Stephen Gomersall Sir Stephen Gomersall, KCMG was educated at Forest School, Snaresbrook and Queens' College, Cambridge. After 14 years serving as a diplomat in Japan and as British ambassador, 1999-2004, he became Chief Executive of Hitachi Europe Ltd. at the age of 56...	1999	2004
Sir Graham Fry Graham Fry Sir Graham Holbrook Fry, KCMG was British High Commissioner to Malaysia from 1998 to 2001 and British Ambassador to Japan from 2004 to 2008....	2004	2008
David Warren David Warren (diplomat) Ambassador David Warren was educated at Epsom College, is a British diplomat and currently serves as the UK Ambassador to Japan, since July 2008.Warren joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1975...	2008

See also

• Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce
  Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce
  The was signed on August 26, 1858 by Lord Elgin and the then representatives of the Japanese government . This was an unequal treaty, that gave Japan semi-colonial status.The concessions which Japan made were threefold:...
  
  
• Anglo-Japanese relations
  Anglo-Japanese relations
  The history of the relationship between Britain and Japan began in 1600 with the arrival of William Adams on the shores of Kyūshū at Usuki in Ōita Prefecture...
  
  
• Foreign and Commonwealth Office
  Foreign and Commonwealth Office
  The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...
  
  

External links

• UK in Japan, Chronology of Heads of Mission; History of the British Embassy in Tokyo