My Appointment to Japan

One of the first acts of the British Minister, Sir Harry Parkes, on his arrival in Japan in 1865, was the conclusion of a convention supplementary ¹ to the then existing treaties, which made provision for various requirements necessary to the safety and well-being of Europeans and Americans. This stipulated that the Japanese Government ‘shall provide all the ports open to foreign trade with such lights, buoys or beacons, as may be necessary to render secure the navigation of the approaches to said Ports’. He pressed the ministers in Yedo to give the latter clause their attention, at the earliest opportunity. By diligent enquiry, he obtained from the captains of the warships of various nationalities their opinions as to the best position for the buoys, lights and lighthouses. On the 17th of November, 1866, he sent these to the Yedo Government, with an explanatory dispatch.