See below for Deputy Chiefs of Mission

Ambassadors: 1859-Present

Name	Appointment	Credentials presented	Term of Mission
Townsend Harris	19 Jan. 1859	5 Nov. 1859	Presented recall, 26 Apr. 1862
Robert H. Pruyn	12 Oct. 1861	-	Recommissioned after confirmation
	22 Jan. 1862	17 May 1862	Left Japan 28 Apr. 1865
Chaubcey M. Depewl	15 Nov. 1865	-	-
Robert B. Van Valkenburgh	18 Jan. 1866	4 May 1867	Presented recall, 11 Nov. 1869
Charles E. De Long	21 Apr. 1869	11 Nov. 1869	Promoted to EE/MP
	14 July 1870	9 June 1872	Had Farewell Audience, 7 Oct. 1873
John A. Bingham	31 May 1873	7 Oct. 1873	Recommissioned after confirmation
Richard B. Hubbard	2 Apr. 1885	2 July 1885	Presented recall, 15 May 1889
John F. Swift	12 Mar 1889	15 May 1889	Died at post, 10 May 1891
Frank L. Coombs	20 Apr. 1892	13 June 1892	Presented recall, 14 July 1893
Edwin Dun	4 Apr. 1893	14 July 1893	Presented recall, 2 July 1897
Alfred E. Buck	13 Apr. 1897	3 July 1893	Died at post, 4 December 1902
Lloyd C. Griscom	16 Dec. 1902	22 June 1903	Left Japan 19 November 1905
Luke E. Wright	25 Jan.1906	26 May 1906	Left Japan August 1907
Thomas J. O'Brien	11 June 1907	15 Oct. 1907	Recommissioned after confirmation
	12 Dec. 1907	-	Left post, 31 August 1911
Charles Page Bryan	12 Aug. 1911	22 Nov. 1911	Left post, 1 October 1912
Larz Anderson	14 Nov. 1912	1 Feb. 1913	Recommissioned after confirmation
	1 Mar. 1913	-	Left Japan, 15 March 1913
George W. Guthrie	20 May 1913	7 Aug. 1913	Died at post, 8 March 1917
Roland S. Morris	1 Aug. 1917	30 Oct. 1917	Left Japan, 15 May 1920
Charles B. Warren	29 June 1921	24 Sept. 1921	Left Japan, 28 January 1922
Cyrus E. Woods	3 Mar. 1923	21 July 1923	Left Japan, 5 June 1924
Edgar A. Bancroft	23 Sept. 1924	19 Nov. 1924	Recommissioned after confirmation
	21 Jan. 1925	-	Died at Karuizawa, 27 July 1925
Charles MacVeagh	24 Sept. 1925	9 Dec. 1925	Recommissioned after conformation
	17 Dec. 1925	-	Left Japan, 6 December 1928
William R. Castle, Jr.	11 Dec. 1929	24 Jan. 1930	Left Japan, 27 May 1930
W. Cameron Forbes	17 June 1930	25 Sept. 1930	Left Japan, 22 March 1932
Joseph C. Grew	19 Feb. 1932	14 June 1932	Japan declared war on the U.S., 8 Dec. 1941 (Tokyo Time)
Robert D. Murphy	18 Apr. 1952	9 May 1952	Relinquished charge, 28 April 1953
John M. Allison	2 Apr. 1953	28 May 1953	Left post, 2 Feb. 1957
Douglas MacArthur	4 Dec. 1956	-	Recommissioned after confirmation
	29 Jan. 1957	25 Feb. 1957	Left post, 12 March 1961
Edwin O. Reischauer	29 Mar. 1961	27 Apr. 1961	Left post, 19 August 1966
U. Alexis Johnson	1 Sept. 1966	8 Nov. 1966	Left post, 15 January 1969
Armin H. Meyer	27 May 1969	3 Jul. 1969	Left post, 27 March 1972
Robert S. Ingersoll	29 Feb. 1972	12 Apr. 1972	Left post, 8 November 1973
James D. Hodgson	20 Jun. 1974	19 Jul. 1974	Left post, 5 February 1977
Michael J.Mansfield	22 Apr. 1977	10 June 1977	Left post, 22 December 1988
Michael H. Armacost	20 Apr. 1989	15 May 1989	Left post, 19 July 1993
Walter F. Mondale	13 Aug. 1993	22 Sep. 1993	Left post, 14 December 1996
Thomas S. Foley	6 Nov. 1997	19 Nov. 1997	Left post, April 1, 2001
Howard H. Baker, Jr.	23 May 2001	5 July 2001	Left post, 17 February 2005
John Thomas Schieffer	17 March 2005	11 April 2005

Deputy Chiefs of Mission

Name	Appointed	Title
A.L. C. Portman	June 27, 1861	Secretary & Interpreter
J. C. Hepburn	April 6, 1871	Interpreter
Durham W. Stevens	August 6, 1873	Secretary of Legation
Gustavus Goward	January 23, 1883	Secretary of Legation
Fred S. Mansfield	November 12, 1885	Secretary of Legation
Edwin Dun	September 3, 1889	Secretary of Legation
Joseph R. Herod	March 8, 1895	Secretary of Legation
Huntington Wilson	October 10, 1900	Secretary of Legation
H. Percival Dodge	August 8, 1906	Secretary of Embassy
Peter Augustus Jay	June 21, 1907	Secretary of Embassy
Montgomery Schuyler	December 21, 1908	Secretary of Embassy
Arthur Bailly-Blanchard	February 1, 1912	Secretary of Embassy
Post Wheeler	June 3, 1914	Secretary of Embassy
John Van A. MacMurray	November 10, 1917	Counselor
Hugh R. Wilson	August 19, 1921	Counselor
Jefferson Caffery	September 5, 1923	Counselor
Norman Armour	June 25, 1925	Counselor of Embassy
Edwin L. Neville	April 12, 1928	Counselor of Embassy
Eugene H. Dooman	January 5, 1937	Counselor of Embassy

Embassy Closed December 8, 1941
Embassy re-established April 28, 1953

William T. Turner	April 10, 1953	Counselor
J. Graham Parsons	July 18, 1953	Counselor of Embassy
Outerbridge Horsey	April 22, 1956	Minister-Counselor
William Leonhart	December 28, 1958	Minister-Counselor
John K. Emmerson	July 22, 1962	DCM
David L. Osborn	January 1967	DCM
Richard L. Sneider	September 1969	DCM
Thomas P. Shoesmith	July 1972	DCM
William C. Sherman	July 1977	DCM
William Clark, Jr.	October 1981	DCM
L. Desaix Anderson	June 1985	DCM
William T. Breer	September 1989	DCM
Rust M. Deming	October 1993	DCM
Christopher J. LaFleur	November 1998	DCM
Richard A. Christenson	July 2001	DCM
Michael W. Michalak	April 2004	DCM
Joseph R. Donovan	August 2005	DCM