Sir Arthur Henry Hugh Cortazzi, GCMG (2 May 1924 – 14 August 2018) was a British diplomat.
He began in the RAF as an Aircraftman 2nd Class and was assigned to a six-month course learning Japanese, taught at the School of Oriental and African Studies.
After completion of the course, Cortazzi was sent to the headquarters of the Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre in Delhi, India, just as the war was ending.
He was assigned to Number 5 Mobile Section, and was then posted to Singapore as the personal interpreter of General Miles Dempsey, the commander of the 14th Army.
[1] Sir Hugh retired from public service after his years as British ambassador to Japan, but in private life, he has continued to work promoting better Anglo-Japanese relations.
[5] In 2006, Sir Hugh's translation of the Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito's account of his time at Oxford was published as The Thames and I.
[1] In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Hugh Cortazzi, OCLC/WorldCat encompasses roughly 60+ works in 100+ publications in 4 languages and 4,000+ library holdings.