He then served as ambassador to Italy and later to the Soviet Union, holding the latter position during most of the Second World War.

He graduated from the Tokyo Higher Commercial School (東京高等商業学校, Tōkyō Kōtō Shōgyō Gakkō, now Hitotsubashi University) in 1904, attended the consul course of the same institute, and finished studying there in 1905.

[citation needed] He served from 1942 as the last Imperial Japanese Ambassador to the U.S.S.R. before the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, upon the request of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shigenori Tōgō.

[citation needed] One of his missions as Japan's Ambassador to the U.S.S.R. was to seek peace with the Allies through the assistance of the U.S.S.R. due to Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact.

On 8 August 1945, he was invited to the Kremlin by the U.S.S.R. Foreign Minister, Vyacheslav Molotov, and received the Soviet declaration of war against Imperial Japan.