Fukuzawa Yukichi, one of a kind

Everyone knows the famous figure on the ¥10,000 note. They know him as the author of Conditions in the West and An Encouragement of Learning, two of the most significant publications of the Bakumatsu and Meiji periods.

Fukuzawa was lucky enough to join the entourage of Japanese elites who traveled to San Francisco in 1860. He paid attention to everything, from carpets that covered entire rooms to horse-drawn carriages to liquor served on ice. While the official Japanese mission was paying a visit to Washington, D.C., he and others roamed San Francisco. Among his companions was none other than John Manjiro, Nakahama Manjiro. Both of them purchased a copy of Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language, which Fukuzawa later claimed were the first copies of this dictionary to be imported to Japan. Fukuzawa also took back to Japan something that no one else did.

The mission returned from Washington and the entire entourage sailed for Honolulu. Only after their ship left Hawaii for Japan did Fukuzawa display what he had obtained. It was a photo of Fukuzawa and a young American woman! He had purposely waited until they left Hawaii to show his photo, because he didn’t want his companions to have a similar photo taken themselves.

Actually, the young woman was the 15-year-old daughter of the photographer in San Francisco. But no one onboard had anything to compare with that souvenir from America. And he made sure that none of his shipmates would imitate his achievement.

(248 words)

Note: This true story is from Kitaoka Shinichi’s Self-respect and Independence of Mind, translated by James Vardaman and published by the Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture, 2017.