# List of ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Japan

The Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Japan is the United Kingdom's foremost diplomatic representative in Japan, and is the head of the UK's diplomatic mission there.
The following is a chronological list of British heads of mission (ministers and ambassadors) in Japan from 1859. Before 1905, there were no ambassadors exchanged between the two countries, the highest rank being envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary – a rank just below ambassador. Before 1859, there was no treaty and no diplomatic relations, because Japan was isolated from the world by the Tokugawa shogunate's policy of national isolation called sakoku (literally locked country).

## List of heads of mission
### Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary

| Head of mission | Tenure begins | Tenure ends | British monarch | Japanese emperor |
| James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin | 1858 | 1858 | Queen Victoria | Kōmei |
| Sir Rutherford Alcock | 1859 | 1865 | Queen Victoria | Kōmei |
| Sir Harry Parkes | 1865 | 1883 | Queen Victoria | Meiji |
| Sir Francis Plunkett | 1884 | 1887 | Queen Victoria | Meiji |
| Hugh Fraser | 1889 | 1894 | Queen Victoria | Meiji |
| Power Henry Le Poer Trench | 1894 | 1895 | Queen Victoria | Meiji |
| Sir Ernest Satow | 1895 | 1900 | Queen Victoria | Meiji |
| Sir Claude MacDonald | 1900 | 1905 | Edward VII | Meiji |

### Ambassadors

| Head of mission | Tenure begins | Tenure ends | British monarch | Japanese emperor |
| Sir Claude MacDonald | 1905 | 1912 | Edward VII | Meiji |
| Sir Conyngham Greene | 1912 | 1919 | George V | Taishō |
| Sir Charles Eliot | 1919 | 1925 | George V | Taishō |
| Sir John Tilley | 1926 | 1931 | George V | Shōwa |
| Sir Francis Lindley | 1931 | 1934 | George V | Shōwa |
| Sir Robert Clive | 1934 | 1937 | George V | Shōwa |
| Sir Robert Craigie | 1937 | 1941 | George VI | Shōwa |
No representation (1941–1946, due to World War II)
During World War II, Setsuya Beppu worked in a consulate in Dublin in the Irish Free State, and was responsible for the Japanese citizens in the UK and Ireland.

### Political Representative

* Sir Alvary Gascoigne (1946–1951)
* Sir Esler Dening (1951–1952)

### Ambassadors

| Head of mission | Tenure begins | Tenure ends | British monarch | Japanese emperor |
| Sir Esler Dening | 1952 | 1957 | Elizabeth II | Shōwa |
| Sir Daniel Lascelles | 1957 | 1959 | Elizabeth II | Shōwa |
| Sir Oscar Morland | 1959 | 1963 | Elizabeth II | Shōwa |
| Sir Francis Rundall | 1963 | 1967 | Elizabeth II | Shōwa |
| Sir John Pilcher | 1967 | 1972 | Elizabeth II | Shōwa |
| Sir Fred Warner | 1972 | 1975 | Elizabeth II | Shōwa |
| Sir Michael Wilford | 1975 | 1980 | Elizabeth II | Shōwa |
| Sir Hugh Cortazzi | 1980 | 1984 | Elizabeth II | Shōwa |
| Sir Sydney Giffard | 1984 | 1986 | Elizabeth II | Shōwa |
| Sir John Whitehead | 1986 | 1992 | Elizabeth II | Heisei (Akihito) |
| Sir John Boyd | 1992 | 1996 | Elizabeth II | Heisei (Akihito) |
| Sir David Wright | 1996 | 1999 | Elizabeth II | Heisei (Akihito) |
| Sir Stephen Gomersall | 1999 | 2004 | Elizabeth II | Heisei (Akihito) |
| Sir Graham Fry | 2004 | 2008 | Elizabeth II | Heisei (Akihito) |
| Sir David Warren | 2008 | 2012 | Elizabeth II | Heisei (Akihito) |
| Tim Hitchens | 2012 | 2016 | Elizabeth II | Heisei (Akihito) |
| Paul Madden | 2017 | 2021 | Elizabeth II | Heisei (Akihito) |
| Julia Longbottom | 2021 | | Elizabeth II Charles III | Reiwa (Naruhito) |