Editing Kijūrō Shidehara (section)

==Early life and career==
Shidehara was born on 13 September 1872, in [[Kadoma, Osaka]], into a wealthy farming family (''[[gōnō]]'').<ref>{{Cite web |title=幣原喜重郎 {{!}} 三菱グループサイト |url=https://www.mitsubishi.com/ja/profile/history/series/people/12/ |access-date=2022-03-05 |website=www.mitsubishi.com |language=ja}}</ref> His brother Taira was the first president of [[National Taiwan University|Taihoku Imperial University]]. Shidehara attended [[University of Tokyo|Tokyo Imperial University]], and graduated from the Faculty of Law, where he had studied under [[Hozumi Nobushige]]. After graduation, he found a position within the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan)|Foreign Ministry]] and was sent as a consul to Chemulpo in [[Korea]] in 1896.

In 1903 Shidehara married Masako Iwasaki, who came from the family that founded the [[Mitsubishi]] [[zaibatsu]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.asjapan.org/web.php/lectures/1995/04 |title=A Statesman for the Twenty-First Century? The Life and Diplomacy of Shidehara Kijuuroh (1872-1951) |access-date=3 November 2010 |archive-date=5 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505145121/http://www.asjapan.org/web.php/lectures/1995/04 |url-status=dead }}</ref> This made him the brother-in-law of [[Katō Takaaki]], who had also been prime minister.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/14970117 |title=Nihon dai hyakka zensho |others=Shōgakkan, 小学館 |year=1989 |isbn=4-09-526001-7 |at=幣原喜重郎 |oclc=14970117}}</ref>

He subsequently served in the Japanese embassy in [[London]], [[Antwerp]], and [[Washington D.C.]], and as ambassador to the [[Netherlands]], returning to Japan in 1915.

In 1915, Shidehara was appointed Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and continued in this position during five consecutive administrations. In 1919, he was named ambassador to the [[United States]] and was Japan's leading negotiator during the [[Washington Naval Conference]]. His negotiations led to the return of [[Jiaozhou Bay concession]] to [[China]]. However, while he was ambassador, the United States enacted discriminatory immigration laws against Japanese, which created much ill will in Japan.

Shidehara was elevated to the title of ''danshaku'' ([[baron]]) under the ''[[kazoku]]'' peerage system in 1920, and appointed to a seat in the [[House of Peers (Japan)|House of Peers]] in 1925.

<gallery mode="packed" style="text-align: center;" heights="110px" perrow="3">
File:Japanese_Delegation_arrived_October_24th%2C_1921.jpg|From left to right: Robert Woods Bliss, Robert Coontz, [[Kanji Kato]], {{ill|Kunishige Tanaka|ja|田中国重|vertical-align=sup}}, Andre Brewster at the Washington Conference on 24 October 1921.
File:Kijūrō_Shidehara,_Tomosaburō_Katō_and_Iesato_Tokugawa.jpg|Left to right; Baron Kijuro Shidehara, Admiral [[Katō Tomosaburō]], Prince [[Iesato Tokugawa]] on 3 November 1921, to attend the Washington Naval Conference.
</gallery>