Chinda Sutemi

Chinda Sutemi, by Harris & Ewing.

Count Chinda Sutemi (珍田捨巳^?, January 19, 1857 - January 16, 1929) was a Japanese diplomat.

Diplomatic career

He was born January 19, 1857 in Hirosaki, Aomori.

In 1877 he went to study at DePauw University.^[1] He got his B.A. in 1881, and M.A. in 1884. In 1882 he married, and had one son.^[2]

From 1890 to 1894, Chinda served as Japanese Consul in San Francisco, California. In 1897 Chinda was appointed first Japanese Minister Plenipotentiary to Brazil, following the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two states in 1895.^[3] He served as Japanese Ambassador to Germany from 1908 to 1911, to the United States from 1912 to 1916 and to the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1920, during which time he also took part in the Japanese delegation to the Paris Peace Conference, 1919.

He was also a Methodist minister.

↑ DePauw University: A Pictorial History
↑ A Washington Post article on March 25, 2010 stated that Chinda had two (not one) sons, one of whom died during the explosion at sea of a Japanese warship during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, and the other of whom committed suicide by hanging in the US shortly after completing work for an MA and before Chinda and his wife transferred from Washington to London.
↑ Masaharu Nanami, The Japan Times, April 3, 2008 Building of first Japan legation to Brazil found