Historical Dictionary of United States-Japan ... - Bakumatsu Films

GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TARIFFS AND TRADE • 85
sions. As a result of his Western studies and experiences, he wrote
Conditions of the West in 1866, which became a bestseller in Japan.
He later wrote The Encouragement of Learning, A Theory of Civilization,
and other works primarily on the West, education, and equality
of opportunity. In the 1870s, Fukuzawa helped establish the
Meirokusha Society of scholars advocating Westernization and practical
knowledge as the paths for a New Japan of political and economic
strength. “Civilization and enlightenment” (Bunmei Kaika)
became a well-known slogan for Fukuzawa and others who advocated
such Westernizing policies. Fukuzawa later established the Jiji
Shimpo newspaper; in 1890, the school he originally founded in 1858
was transformed into Keio University, which remains to the present
day as one of Japan’s premier universities. In recognition of
Fukuzawa’s prominence as a philosopher, writer, and educator, his
picture is on the 10,000 yen bill. See also MEIJI ERA.
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GANNENMONO. Literally, “first year people,” the gannenmono refers
to the group of 150 Japanese who traveled to the Kingdom of Hawaii
in 1868—the first year of the Meiji Era—to work as laborers on
sugar cane plantations. Eugene Van Reed, an American businessman
living in Yokohama, made the arrangements between the Japanese laborers
and the Kingdom of Hawaii. The new Meiji government in
Japan complained to the United States and Hawaiian governments
that it had not given its approval for the gannenmono arrangement. A
settlement was soon reached between the three governments, which
included bringing some of the Japanese laborers back to Japan. Despite
the hard work on sugar cane plantations and the sometimes
harsh treatment by American and European plantation owners, most
of the gannenmono ultimately chose to stay in Hawaii, and many of
their descendants still live on the Hawaiian Islands.
GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TARIFFS AND TRADE (GATT).
One of the important lessons from World War II was that establishing
multilateral and liberal trade rules would be essential in order to
maintain peace and stability around the world. Based on this idea,