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| Ambassador of the United States to Japan | |
|---|---|
| 日本駐在米合衆国大使 Chū Nihonkoku Amerika Gasshūkoku Taishi | |
 Seal of the United States Department of State | |
 Flag of a United States ambassador | |
 | |
| Department of State | |
| Style | Mr. Ambassador (informal) The Honorable (formal) |
| Nominator | Thepresident of the United States |
| Appointer | Thepresident withSenateadvice and consent |
| Formation | November 5, 1859 |
| Website | U.S. Embassy – Japan |
Theambassador of the United States of America to Japan (Japanese:駐日本国アメリカ合衆国大使,Hepburn:Chū Nihonkoku Amerika Gasshūkoku Taishi) is theambassador from theUnited States of America toJapan.
Beginning in 1854 with theuse of gunboat diplomacy byCommodoreMatthew C. Perry, the U.S. has maintaineddiplomatic relations with Japan, except for the ten-year period between theattack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 (and the subsequentdeclaration of war on Japan by the United States) and the signing of theTreaty of San Francisco, which normalized relations between the United States and Japan. The United States maintains anembassy in Tokyo, withconsulates-general inOsaka,Nagoya,Sapporo,Fukuoka, andNaha.
Due to the significance of therelations between the two countries in recent years on trade and defense, with Japan being described by the United States State Department as "the cornerstone of the U.S. security interests in Asia,"[1] the post has been held by many significant American politicians, includingMike Mansfield,Walter Mondale,Tom Foley andHoward Baker andRahm Emanuel.
The following is a list of chiefs ofmission.
| Name | Presented credentials | Reason for end of term | Date of end of term |
|---|---|---|---|
| Townsend Harris | November 5, 1859 | presented recall | April 26, 1862 |
| Robert H. Pruyn | May 17, 1862 | Left Japan | April 28, 1866 |
| Chauncey Depew* | N/A | *(commissioned during a Senate recess; declined appointment) | N/A |
| Robert B. Van Valkenburgh | May 4, 1867 | presented recall | November 11, 1869 |
| Charles E. DeLong | November 11, 1869 | promoted to envoy | June 9, 1872 |
Envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary
| Name | Presented credentials | Reason for end of term | Date of end of term |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charles E. DeLong | June 9, 1872 | Farewell address | October 7, 1873 |
| John Bingham | October 7, 1873 | Presented recall | July 2, 1885 |
| Richard B. Hubbard | July 2, 1885 | May 15, 1889 | |
| John Franklin Swift | May 15, 1889 | Died in office | March 10, 1891 |
| Frank Coombs | June 13, 1892 | Presented recall | July 14, 1893 |
| Edwin Dun | July 14, 1893 | July 2, 1897 | |
| Alfred Buck | June 3, 1898 | Died in office | December 4, 1902 |
| Lloyd Carpenter Griscom | June 22, 1903 | Left Japan | November 19, 1905 |
Ambassadors extraordinary and plenipotentiary
| Name | Presented credentials | Reason for end of term | Date of end of term |
|---|---|---|---|
| Luke E. Wright | May 26, 1906 | Left Japan | August 13, 1907 |
| Thomas J. O'Brien | October 15, 1907 | Left office | August 31, 1911 |
| Charles Page Bryan | November 22, 1911 | October 1, 1912 | |
| Larz Anderson | February 1, 1913 | Left Japan | March 15, 1913 |
| George W. Guthrie | August 7, 1913 | Died in office | March 8, 1917 |
| Roland S. Morris | October 30, 1917 | Left Japan | May 15, 1920 |
| Charles B. Warren | September 24, 1921 | January 28, 1923 | |
| Cyrus Woods | July 21, 1923 | June 5, 1924 | |
| Edgar Bancroft | November 19, 1924 | Died in office | July 27, 1925 |
| Charles MacVeagh | December 9, 1925 | Left Japan | December 6, 1928 |
| William Castle, Jr. | January 24, 1930 | May 27, 1930 | |
| W. Cameron Forbes | September 15, 1930 | March 22, 1932 | |
| Joseph Grew | June 14, 1932 | Left Japan upon US declaration of war | December 8, 1941 |
| vacant | 1941 | 1946 | |
| George Atcheson Jr.** | 1946 | (**Political advisor toSCAP of ambassadorial rank.)[2] | 1946 |
| William J. Sebald*** | 1947 | (***Chief, Diplomatic Section, GHQ, SCAP - of ambassadorial rank)[2] | 1952 |
| Robert D. Murphy | May 9, 1952 | Relinquished charge | April 28, 1953 |
| John M. Allison | May 28, 1953 | Left office | February 2, 1957 |
| Douglas MacArthur II | February 25, 1957 | March 12, 1961 | |
| Edwin Reischauer | April 27, 1961 | August 19, 1966 | |
| U. Alexis Johnson | November 8, 1966 | January 15, 1969 | |
| Armin H. Meyer | July 3, 1969 | March 27, 1972 | |
| Robert S. Ingersoll | April 12, 1972 | November 8, 1973 | |
| James Day Hodgson | July 19, 1974 | February 2, 1977 | |
| Mike Mansfield | June 10, 1977 | December 22, 1988 | |
| Michael Armacost | May 15, 1989 | July 19, 1993 | |
| Walter Mondale | September 21, 1993 | December 15, 1996 | |
| Tom Foley | November 19, 1997 | April 1, 2001 | |
| Howard Baker | July 5, 2001 | Farewell address | February 17, 2005 |
| Tom Schieffer | April 11, 2005 | Left office | January 20, 2009 |
| John Roos | August 20, 2009 | August 12, 2013 | |
| Caroline Kennedy | November 12, 2013 | January 18, 2017 | |
| Bill Hagerty | August 31, 2017 | July 22, 2019 | |
| vacant | 2019 | 2022 | |
| Rahm Emanuel[3][4] | March 25, 2022 | January 15, 2025 | |
| George Glass | April 18, 2025 | Incumbent |
This article incorporatespublic domain material fromU.S. Bilateral Relations Fact Sheets.United States Department of State.| Resident Minister | |
|---|---|
| Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary | |
| Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | |
