THE GREAT JAPANESE EMBASSY OF i860. 



A Forgotten Chapter in the History of International 

 Amity and Commerce 



By PATTERSON DUBOIS. 



(Read April 21, 19 10.) 



The American trader with Japan, the traveller or sojourner in 

 Japan, and the national representative or envoy to Japan, all find 

 their transactions with the Japanese greatly facilitated by certain 

 American ideas, patterns and methods now firmly rooted in Japanese 

 practise. 



First and foremost, the money system corresponds closely to that 

 of the United States and the coinage itself is convenient, exact and 

 trustworthy. In close accord with this, the American feels himself 

 comparatively at home with the banking, postal and telegraph facili- 

 ties, in public school aspects, and finally, he takes comfort in the 

 assurance of an up-to-date dentistry and surgery. 



But the international American little realizes how all these 

 essentials of modern western life came to be imported from his 

 own country and adopted by the keen-eyed Japanese as indis- 

 pensable models for the Meiji or "enlightened rule." 



The historic fact has dropped into almost total oblivion. This 

 practical Americanizing of Japan harks back to the well-nigh for- 

 gotten visit of the great Japanese Embassy to the United States in 

 i860. 



After the first assurance of friendly relations or amity, the 

 rock-bottom of a stable, thriving and reciprocal commerce between 

 two nations is to be found — as already indicated — in a scientifically 

 exact and trustworthy coinage and system of exchange. Of this, 

 more later. But first, as to the historical setting of one of the most 

 picturesque and potent of all international events. 



Americans delight to shout themselves hoarse in the praise of 



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