William George Aston

William George Aston (9 April 1841 – 22 November 1911) was a British diplomat, author and scholar-expert in the language and history of Japan and Korea.
Early life.
Aston was born near Londonderry in Ireland. In 1859-1863, he studied at Queen's College in Belfast, which is now Queen's University Belfast.
Career.
Aston was an interpreter in the British Legation in Japan in 1864. He studied with Ernest Mason Satow. 
Aston worked in the British consular service in Tokyo, Kobe and Nagasaki. He retired in 1889. 
Japan.
Along with Satow and Basil Hall Chamberlain, Aston was one of three major British Japanologists during the 19th century.
Aston was the first translator of the "Nihongi" into the English language (1896).
Korea.
In 1884, Aston was the first Western diplomat to live in Korea. 
Aston donated his translations of Korean folk tales to the Asiatic Museum in St. Petersberg, Russia and they were published in 2004. This part of Aston's personal collection is now at the Academy of Sciences in St Petersburg.
Selected works.
In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about William George Aston, OCLC/WorldCat includes roughly 90+ works in 200+ publications in 4 languages and 3,000+ library holdings.