ABSTRACT
IN NOVEMBER 1871 the representatives of the powers in Tokyo were informed that Japan was about to arrange for a special embassy to set off for the United States and Europe. As they reported to their governments they did not find it entirely surprising because Japan had already sent abroad two missions: the Takenouchi mission to Europe in 1862 ‘the first official government mission to Britain’ and then the 18656 mission. It was 1866 when Fukuzawa Yukichi published his experiences of journeying abroad in the first volume of Seiyo jijo (Conditions in the West). So there was much awareness of Western progress and a desire that Japan should share in it. In practice, however, the preoccupation of Japan’s leaders with the restoration of the Emperor Meiji, the civil war and the move of the capital to Edo (Tokyo) left little scope for the new ‘reformed’ government to take up the problem of its relations with the West. Surrounded by many divisive domestic problems, it is amazing that they were able to contemplate sending a major delegation around the world as early as the autumn of 1871. But, in spite of battles over the constitution of the delegation and the timing of its visit, the leadership was sufficiently assured to let senior figures join the mission.1
