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Sir John Arthur Pilcher GCMG (16 May 1912 – 10 February 1990) was a British diplomat, capping a long career with a posting as Her Majesty's ambassador to Austria (1965-1957) and as ambassador to Japan (1967–1972). ==Career== Pilcher's entered the consular service after passing an open examination in 1935.〔London Gazette: ( Issue No. 34217, p. 27 (8 November 1935). )〕 His career in the Foreign Service was marked by appointment as one of His Majesty's Vice-Consuls in China in 1940.〔London Gazette: ( Issue No. 34960, p. 3 (4 October 1940). )〕 Pilcher was the British ambassador to the Philippines 1959–63, and to Austria 1965–67〔London Gazette: ( Issue No. 43654, p. 3 (18 May 1965). )〕 when the Queen conferred with the honour of Knight Commander in the Order of St Michael and St George.〔London Gazette: ( Issue No. 43854, p. 4 (31 December 1965). )〕 Sir John ended his career as Her Majesty's ambassador in Tokyo from 1967〔London Gazette: ( Issue No. 44478, p. 1 (18 December 1967). )〕 through 1972,〔( British embassy in Japan: ) ( Ambassadors to Japan )〕 He was considered by some of his peers as "the last of the scholar-diplomats."〔Cortazzi, Hugh. (2004). (''British Envoys in Japan,1859-1972, publisher's blurb. )〕 Although Sir John was appropriately diplomatic in his professional duties, he was capable of extraordinary frankness in dispatches sent to Whitehall. While there is no doubt that Sir John was sincere, his seeming inability to recognize an inherent double-standard in his views is revealing about the attitude that many British and European scholars took towards non-Europeans in the early postwar decades.〔Curtin, J. Sean. ( "Former British Ambassador Thought Japanese Lacked a Moral Code," ) ( Japanese Institute of Global Communications ). 9 January 2003.〕 For instance, the substance of a declassified 1972 letter to the Foreign Secretary Sir Alec Douglas-Home was published in the ''Japan Times'' in 2003. In that dispatch, Sir John expressed views which are no less controversial today than when he wrote them.〔( "British envoy painted Japanese as narrow-minded egoists," ) ''Japan Times.'' 1 January 2003; ( "Japanese lack moral code: British ambassador," ) ''Japan Policy & Politics.'' 6 January 2003.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「John Arthur Pilcher」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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