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

10 • INTRODUCTION
to Euro–American standards. The Euro–American refusal to re-negotiate
the treaties upset many of Japan’s leaders.
The second objective of the Iwakura Embassy was to study the political,
economic, educational, military, and scientific institutions of the
West for the purpose of adapting useful elements of these institutions in
Japan. This objective was more successful. The Japanese diplomats
were impressed with America’s education system, with Britain’s parliamentary
government and navy, and with Germany’s army and constitutional
monarchy. They were impressed with France’s architectural and
artistic heritage. Likewise, the presence of diplomats from Japan began
a “Japonisme” movement among many American and European artists.
During the 1870s, the Japanese government employed hundreds of
Americans and Europeans as instructors for their technical expertise in establishing
Western-oriented institutions in Japan. William E. Griffis and
David Murray, from Rutgers College in New Jersey, William Smith Clark,
and Mary Eddy Kidder were among the Americans who came to Japan as
instructors. Starting in the early 1860s, hundreds of students from Japan
traveled to the United States and Europe for university studies. These students
brought knowledge of the West back to Japan. Arinori Mori and Hirobumi
Ito were among the earliest students, as was Jo Niijima, a Christian
missionary and founder of Doshisha University in Kyoto. As a result of
their transnational and cross-cultural educations and experiences, these
early Japanese students became a crucial element in expanding Japan’s
knowledge of the West and in expanding American knowledge of Japan.
In 1879, former President Ulysses S. Grant and his wife Julia visited
Japan during a long, round-the-world tour. His two terms as president
from 1868 to 1876 were plagued by scandals, a bad economy, and problems
in the wake of the American Civil War. Nevertheless, Grant was
hailed everywhere in the world as the hero of the Civil War, including
in Japan. Grant spent several weeks in Japan sightseeing and had general
discussions on political matters with Japanese officials, including
Emperor Meiji.
IMPERIAL KINSHIP, 1900–1908
In 1894, war erupted between Japan and China over issues relating to
control of Korea. The Korean peninsula is strategically centered among