Education
University of Tokyo.
谷正之
University of Tokyo.
Tani was a career diplomat before assuming ministerial roles. More specifically, he was Japanese ambassador to France (1918-1923), to the United States (1927-1930) and to Manchukuo (1933-1936). In addition, he was chief of Asian Bureau in the ministry of foreign affairs
He also worked as counsellor to the Japanese embassy in Hsinking and as ambassador-at-large in China.
He served as vice minister of foreign affairs in the cabinet of Mitsumasa Yonai when appointed under then foreign minister Kichisaburō Nomura on 24 September 1939. Then Tani served as information chief and also, foreign minister in the cabinet of Hideki Tōjō.
He was appointed foreign minister on 17 September 1942. During his tenure, Japan continued to encourage a separate peace between Germany and the Soviet Union.
However, his term lasted short.
Since bureaucracts in the ministry of foreign affairs resented Tani, on 21 April 1943, he was replaced by Mamoru Shigemitsu. After World World War II, Tani was detained as a suspect of war crimes until December 1948. However, he was not convicted.
Then he served again as Japan"s ambassador to the United States from March 1956 to April 1957, becoming the third post-war ambassador of Japan to the United States.