Isamu Takeshita - Naval and Diplomatic Career

Naval and Diplomatic Career

Takeshita entered the 15th class of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1892, and he graduated third in a class of eighty students. He entered naval service as a midshipman in 1889; his first ship was the armored corvette Kongo. He In 1898, he attended the Japanese Naval War College, which had been founded that same year.

Because he was fluent in English, Takeshita was posted overseas at various times as a naval attaché. In October 1902, he was appointed Japan's naval attaché to the United States. In this role, Takeshita was an active participant in negotiations mediated by President Theodore Roosevelt that led to the Treaty of Portsmouth, ending the Russo-Japanese War. During 1904, he also helped Roosevelt obtain the services of judo teacher Yamashita Yoshiaki, first for Roosevelt himself and then for the United States Naval Academy. Takeshita's commands included the cruisers Suma, Kasuga, Izumo, Tsukuba and the battleship Shikishima.

Takeshita was a member of the Japanese diplomatic mission to the United States in 1917, the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, and the League of Nations. In these positions, he played a leading role in Japan's obtaining former German holdings in the Central and Western Pacific. For these efforts, he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun (1st class). Takeshita returned to Japan to accept a posting as commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet on 1 December 1922, a position he held until January 1924. His subsequent billets included Commander of the Kure Naval District. He was placed on the retired list in November 1929.