Shidehara was born on 13 September 1872, in
Kadoma, Osaka, into a wealthy farming family (
gōnō). His brother Taira was the first president of
Taihoku Imperial University. Shidehara attended
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
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. This made him the brother-in-law of
Katō Takaaki, who had also been prime minister. 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 in 1925. File:Japanese_Delegation_arrived_October_24th%2C_1921.jpg|From left to right: Robert Woods Bliss, Robert Coontz,
Kanji Kato,
Kunishige Tanaka, 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. ==First term as Foreign Minister==