Aoki Shūzō
| Aoki Shūzō | |
|---|---|
Viscount Aoki Shūzō
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| Born |
March 3, 1844 Sanyō-Onoda, Yamaguchi, Japan |
| Died | February 16, 1914 (aged 69) , Japan |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Occupation | Diplomat, Foreign Minister of Japan |
Aoki Shūzō (青木 周藏?, March 3, 1844 – February 16, 1914) was a diplomat and Foreign Minister in Meiji period Japan.
Viscount Aoki was born to a samurai family as son of the Chōshū domain's physician in what is now part of Sanyō Onoda in Yamaguchi Prefecture). He studied western science and medicine (rangaku) at the domain school Meirinkan in Hagi, and in Nagasaki, He was then sent by Chōshū domain to Germany to study western law in 1868. However, while in Germany, his studies ranged over a very wide area, from western medicine, to politics, military science, and economics. From his surviving notes, he studied how to make beer, paper and paper money, carpets and rugs and techniques of western forestry management.
Aoki returned to Japan after the Meiji Restoration, and entered the Foreign Ministry of new Meiji government in 1873 as First Secretary to the Japanese legations to Germany, Netherlands and Austria. He then served as Vice Foreign Minister in the first Itō administration and Foreign Minister in the first Yamagata administration. While Foreign Minister, he strove for the revision the unequal treaties between the Empire of Japan and the various European powers, particularly the extraterritoriality clauses, and expressed concern over the eastern expansion of the Russian Empire into east Asia.
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