Toshikazu Kase

Toshikazu Kase (加瀬 俊一, Kase Toshikazu, 12 January 1903 – 21 May 2004) was a Japanese civil servant and career diplomat. During World War II he was a high-ranking Foreign Ministry official. Hideaki Kase is his son and Yoko Ono is his niece.

The Japanese representatives on board USS Missouri during the surrender ceremonies on 2 September 1945. Kase on right, wearing top hat.
Kase (right) with Japanese Foreign Minister Shigemitsu at signing of Instrument of Surrender on board USS Missouri, September 2, 1945
Toshikazu Kase
Born(1903-01-12)January 12, 1903
Chiba, Japan
DiedMay 21, 2004(2004-05-21) (aged 101)
Kamakura, Japan
NationalityJapanese
OccupationDiplomat

Biography

Kase was born in Chiba, Japan. After passing his Foreign Service Examination in 1925 he left Tokyo Higher Commercial College (later Hitotsubashi University)[1] and attended Amherst College and Harvard as a Research Fellow, graduating in 1927. He took up diplomatic posts in both Berlin and London before returning to Tokyo where he was posted to the North America desk of the Japanese Foreign Office. He was on duty on the weekend of the Pearl Harbor attack in December 1941.[2] Kase was present as part of the Japanese delegation on board USS Missouri for the signing of the treaty of surrender in 1945.[3] In 1950 Kase published a book which gave an account of the war from a Japanese perspective.[3] In 1955 he became Japan's first ambassador to the United Nations.[4] He died, aged 101 years, in Kamakura of heart failure.[5][6]

See also

References
  1. USS Missouri.com
  2. Brooke, James. (2003-11-08) "Toshikazu Kase: A Japanese Witness to History Adroitly Survived It", The New York Times.
  3. Journey to the Missouri, Kase, Toshikazu & Rowe, David Nelson, Eds, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1950. ISBN 0-208-00747-4 Synopsis from Digital Library for Nuclear Issues
  4. Britannica Book of the Year 2005
  5. Obituary: "Toshikazu Kase, 101, Japanese Diplomat". New York Times, 2 June 2004, p 10 NYT Archive
  6. Pearson, Natalie Obiko, "Toshikazu Kase, Japanese Diplomat in War, Peace". Chicago Sun-Times, 1 June 2004.

Other sources
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Renzō Sawada		 Japanese Ambassador to the United Nations
1955–1957		 Succeeded by
Koto Matsudaira
Preceded by
New office		 Japanese Ambassador to Yugoslavia
1958–1960		 Succeeded by
Yōsuke Nakae
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