Harukazu Nagaoka

Harukazu Nagaoka (長岡 春一, Nagaoka Harukazu) was born on January 16, 1877, in Kobe, Japan, and died on June 30, 1949. He was a Japanese diplomat and jurist who held various positions representing Japan in international diplomacy and judicial proceedings.

Nagaoka pursued higher education in law at Tokyo Imperial University and furthered his studies at the École des Sciences Politiques in Paris.

His early career included serving as a legal counselor for the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1900 to 1902. Between 1904 and 1905, he was the secretary to Judge Ichiro Motono during the case of Japanese tax houses at the International Court of Arbitration. In 1907, Nagaoka was a member of the secretariat at the Second Hague Peace Conference.

In 1912, he participated as a member of the Japanese delegation at the International Conference for the Unification of the Law Concerning Bills of Exchange. He also served on Japan’s Prize Court in 1914. From 1917 to 1921, Nagaoka was a counselor at the Japanese Embassy in Paris.

During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, he was part of Japan’s delegation and served on the Commission of Responsibilities, which dealt with issues related to the responsibilities of nations following World War I.

In 1921, Nagaoka became the first Japanese envoy to Prague following the establishment of the Japanese Legation there. Serving as Japanese Minister Plenipotentiary in Prague from 1921 to 1923, he represented Japan at the Lausanne Peace Conference in 1923, which drafted the peace treaty with Turkey. He served as Minister Plenipotentiary at The Hague from 1923 to 1925, and subsequently as Director of the Treaties and Conventions Division at the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1925 to 1926.

From 1926 to 1930, Nagaoka was the Japanese ambassador to Berlin. In 1930, he represented Japan at the Hague Conference focused on the codification of international law. He served as Japanese ambassador to Paris during 1932 and 1933.

Following the death of Judge Mineichirō Adachi, Nagaoka was considered a suitable candidate to succeed him at the Permanent Court of International Justice. He was elected as a judge on September 14, 1935. The court's operations were disrupted after the German occupation of the Netherlands in 1940, leading the court to relocate its headquarters to Bern, Switzerland. Nagaoka resigned from his position as judge on February 15, 1942.

Nagaoka authored "Histoire des relations du Japon avec l'Europe aux XVIe et XVIIe siècles" in 1905, and his diplomatic memoirs covering the period 1930-1935 were published posthumously.