Akira Ariyoshi

was a Japanese diplomat during the Shōwa era. He was the first ever diplomat from Japan to China to hold the rank of Ambassador Plenipotentiary. He was Japan's representative at many committees of the League, including being present for the creation of the Opium Advisory Committee (OAC). During his time spent as the Japanese plenipotentiary in Brazil, Ariyoshi argued fervently against expansion into the Amazon rainforest, which he considered a sacred place, and advocated for a policy of what he called concretization: building where you already exist.

While in China, Ariyoshi preferred soft power over military action, forming a friendship with the General Zhang Xueliang and other Chinese Generals sympathetic to the Japanese, but Ariyoshi also served here at the pleasure of Minister Hirosi Saito, which was a complex and contentious relationship. He had also formed friendships with Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei. Especially in the years leading up to the Second Sino-Japanese War, Ariyoshi was opposed Japanese military action in China, and retired in 1936 out of protest. However, he died less than a year later.