The Iwakura Mission to America and Europe : A New Assessment

Driven by the need to identify, classify and assess western technology and culture together with a desire to advance a dialogue for reviewing the so-called unequal treaties - the new Meiji government of 1868 despatched a top-level ministerial team to the west which, in 1872, arrived in the United States. In all, they spent 205 days in America, 122 days in Britain and two months in France, as well as visiting other countries including Belgium, Germany, Russia, Sweden and Italy.

Drawing on the papers given at the triennial conference of the European Association of Japanese Studies, held in Budapest in August 1997 (the year also marking the 125th anniversary of Iwakuras arrival), this volume presents a valuable new overview of the mission as a whole, with the significance and impact of the visit to each country being separately assessed. A supplement to the book looks at several post-Iwakura topics, including a review of the missions chief chronicler, Kume Kunitake.