What Did Meiji Japan Learn from America? International Students in the U.S. and the Era of "Saka no Ue no Kumo"

The first time I studied abroad in the United States was in 2005. I was writing a biography of Nagamoto Okabe, who studied at Keio University in the early Meiji period before going to the U.S. to study at Yale University, and I worked hard to collect materials on him at Yale.

The opportunity for my second period of study in the United States came in 2013. I was affiliated with Harvard University, and since I had come all the way to America, I resolved to conduct research that could only be done locally. Therefore, I began collecting materials on Japanese people who studied at Harvard, the neighboring Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Yale during the early Meiji period.

Regarding Ryoichi Inoue, one of the first Japanese to graduate from Harvard University, my mentor, Dr. Yutaka Tezuka, has already written an excellent study. Since Inoue graduated from the law school, I looked into the case of Harvard College and found two individuals: Jukichi Kikkawa and Gizaburo Nakahara. Materials from the university reveal that Kikkawa maintained his relationship with Harvard even after graduation and devoted himself to academic exchange between Japan and the U.S., such as contributing to the establishment of a Japanese civilization course at the university.

The first Japanese to graduate from MIT was a railway engineer named Eiichiro Honma, but the second was Takuma Dan, who would become the head of the Mitsui Zaibatsu. Many materials regarding him remain, and it was discovered that during the Russo-Japanese War, he worked alongside Harvard's Kentaro Kaneko on public diplomacy to turn American public opinion in favor of Japan. Shigetoshi Yoshihara, the first Japanese to enter Yale, became the first Governor of the Bank of Japan.

Based on the results of such archival research in the United States, this book examines what Meiji-era international students learned there and what impact they subsequently had on Japan-U.S. relations. Starting with the stowaway passage of Jo Niijima at the end of the Edo period and leading up to Yosuke Matsuoka, who served as Foreign Minister in the second Fumimaro Konoe cabinet, many students traveled to the U.S. and were involved in Japan-U.S. relations in various ways, from public diplomacy during the Russo-Japanese War to the outbreak of war between Japan and the U.S. Kaneko, who occupies a central role, changed his attitude from pro-American to anti-American and passed away during the Pacific War.

I hope that readers interested in America or international students will follow the footsteps of these students who wove approximately one hundred years of history.

"What Did Meiji Japan Learn from America? International Students in the U.S. and the Era of 'Saka no Ue no Kumo'"

Masamichi Ogawara

Bunshun Shinsho

256 pages, 968 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.