Naotake Satō
{{Short description|Japanese diplomat and politician (1882–1971)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}{{More citations needed|date=September 2022}}
{{Expand Japanese|topic=bio|佐藤尚武|date=September 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Naotake Satō
| native_name = {{No bold|佐藤 尚武}}
| native_name_lang = ja
| image = Naotake Sato.jpg
| office = President of the House of Councillors
| term_start = 15 November 1949
| term_end = 19 May 1953
| predecessor = Tsuneo Matsudaira
| successor = Yahachi Kawai
| office2 = Minister for Foreign Affairs
| primeminister2 = Senjūrō Hayashi
| term_start2 = 3 March 1937
| term_end2 = 4 June 1937
| predecessor2 = Senjūrō Hayashi
| successor2 = Kōki Hirota
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1882|10|30}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1971|12|18|1882|10|30}}
| party =
| spouse = Fumi Satō
| religion =
|}}
{{Nihongo|Naotake Satō|佐藤 尚武|Satō Naotake|30 October 1882 – 18 December 1971}} was a Japanese diplomat and politician who served as President of the House of Councillors from 1949 to 1953.
He was a career diplomat who served as ambassador to Belgium and France in the 1930s. He briefly served as foreign minister under Prime Minister Senjuro Hayashi in 1937. He then served as ambassador to Italy and later to the Soviet Union, holding the latter position during most of the Second World War. After the war he was elected to the House of Councillors and served as its president.
Biography
Naotake Satō was born on 30 October 1882, in Osaka. He graduated from the {{Nihongo|Tokyo Higher Commercial School|東京高等商業学校|Tōkyō Kōtō Shōgyō Gakkō|now Hitotsubashi University}} in 1904, attended the consul course of the same institute, and finished studying there in 1905. That same year he passed the Foreign Service exam and started to work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
After serving as Mukden Consul General and executive secretary of the London Naval Treaty, he served as Imperial Japan's Ambassador to Belgium in 1930 and to France in 1933. He became Minister of Foreign Affairs (Senjūrō Hayashi Cabinet) in March 1937, and resigned in June 1937, then was assigned as adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was ambassador to Italy in 1940.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}
He served from 1942 as the last Imperial Japanese Ambassador to the U.S.S.R. before the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, upon the request of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shigenori Tōgō. As Minister, he worked hard to avert war at the Imperial Diet.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}} One of his missions as Japan's Ambassador to the U.S.S.R. was to seek peace with the Allies through the assistance of the U.S.S.R. due to Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact.{{cite report |author= Carter W. Clarke|author-link= Carter W. Clarke|date= 29 July 1945|title= "MAGIC" - DIPLOMATIC SUMMARY |url= https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB162/44.pdf|publisher= |page= |docket= |access-date= 17 March 2024|quote=}}
However, Satō judged and reported to Tokyo that it was unlikely that the U.S.S.R. would assist Imperial Japan, because it was highly likely that Japan would lose the war, and urged an end to the war as early as possible. On 8 August 1945, he was invited to the Kremlin by the U.S.S.R. Foreign Minister, Vyacheslav Molotov, and received the Soviet declaration of war against Imperial Japan.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}} After the war, he was elected to the House of Councillors of the National Diet of Japan in 1947, and served as a President of the House of Councillors from 1949 to 1953.[http://www.sangiin.go.jp/japanese/aramashi/ayumi/gicho_ichiran.html List of President on the Web site of House of Councillors in Japanese]{{full citation needed|date=September 2022}}
He died on 18 December 1971, in Tokyo.
References
{{s-start}}
{{s-bef|before=Yoshitsugu Tatekawa}}
{{s-ttl|title=Ambassador of Japan to the Soviet Union|years=1942–1945}}
{{s-aft|after= Position terminated as the Soviet government declared war on the Japanese Empire}}
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Japanese foreign ministers}}
{{Japan-politician-stub}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sato, Naotake}}
Category:Politicians from Osaka Prefecture
Category:Members of the House of Councillors (Japan)
Category:Ministers for foreign affairs of Japan
Category:Hitotsubashi University alumni
Category:Recipients of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, 1st class
Category:Grand Cordons of the Order of the Rising Sun
Category:Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers
Category:Ambassadors of Japan to the Soviet Union
Category:Ambassadors of Japan to Italy
Category:Ambassadors of Japan to Belgium