1860: Japanese Embassy to America Visits Hawaii: Welcome to 1860: Japanese Embassy to America Visits the Hawaiian Kingdom

The Japanese Embassy at the Washington D.C. shipyard in 1860: Vice-Ambassador Muragaki Norimasa (third from left), Ambassador Shinmi Masaoki (middle), and Oguri Tadamasa (second from right)

Thirteen years ago, when I started this project about the visit in Year 1860 to the Hawaiian Kingdom by the delegation representing a newly-opened Japan on its way to the United States of America I was never quite sure what would lay ahead.

At the time, in 2010, I was an adjunct lecturer with Hawaii Tokai International College in Honolulu.

My students -mostly from Japan, and also from the USA and other nations- were enrolled in a required course on personal and public speaking. It was the Spring, 2010 semester.

We decided to adapt this historical anniversary into a news-formatted vodcast or video-cast project on YouTube.

U.S.S. Powhaten. Source: Asian Art Museum.

The vodcast focused on the 150th anniversary of the arrival in the Hawaiian Kingdom (1860) of ambassadors from the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan.

That embassy was destined for a tour of the USA.

It was a national sensation in San Francisco, Washington, D.C, New York City and Boston.

Before the embassy arrived in San Francisco, they stopped for ten days in Honolulu.

The vodcast project was in three parts:

Part One: Click Here

Part Two: Click Here

Part Three: Click Here

All narration was by the students. It is all in English; it was their second language.

They developed the script, video, graphics, historical research, and so on.

I'm pictured with a student government delegation of Hawaii Tokai students.
We were presented with a proclamation by Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hanneman's Office.

The Hawaii State Legislature also honored the 150th anniversary, and honored
the work of myself, the students and Hawaii Tokai International College.

I created this blog as a free resource available to all who were interested in this remarkable event in our history.

Back in 2013 and 2014 I gave some thought to turning this into a book project.

I'm still interested.

But as things go life has a way of interfering with our best intentions and our plans.

My teaching schedule increased for one thing.

In 2015 I was invited by the Chinese government to come to Beijing as an official guest for its 70th year commemorations of the end of World War II. Stories about my research into my late-father's service in China caught their attention -and off I went to Beijing.

That excursion was both life and career changing, launching my current career as a radio broadcast journalist. I worked again as an adjunct instructor, a professional tax preparer, started traveling extensively again, and so on.

Historical things like these tend to capture my passion for history and my imagination as well. I'm always delighted when others join in, too.

Just after the beginning of 2019 I received an email from Mr. Jon Yoshimura representing Hawaii Governor Ige's office.

It seemed that this blog was attracting attention -I'm all for that!

It was by phone with Jon Yoshimura that I learned about the creation of a new organization -Society of Descendants of the First Japanese Embassy- comprising the descendants of the 1860 Japanese delegation.

We had a lively conversation, traded thoughts and ideas, and I received an invitation to attend an event this month at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii.

In 2016 Naval District Washington held a commemoration ceremony marking the arrival of the Japanese Embassy in 1860.

I learn about a truly dedicated gentleman spearheading the preservation of the 1860 Japanese Embassy's history -Takashi Muragaki, chairman of the Society of Descendants of the First Japanese Embassy and a fourth generation descendant of Vice Ambassador, Norimasa Awajinokami Muragaki.

Arigato! I salute you! Trust me, this is hard work. It's often thankless, but it comes with its own rewards.

I am featured in the above photo, middle right side.

The Gannenmono Commemoration Committee (Kizuna Hawai‘i) and the local Japanese community welcomed descendants of the first Japanese diplomats to Hawai‘i at a reception at Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii (JCCH) today.

Their visit to Hawaii commemorated the historic meeting held in March 1860 with King Kamehameha IV which resulted in the Treaty of Amity between the two countries.

The seventy-seven Japanese diplomats were en route to Washington, D.C. to meet President James Buchanan and establish the first Japanese Embassy in the United States.

Unanticipated heavy weather and rough seas caused the ship to stop in Honolulu setting the stage for the historic meeting between the Kingdom of Hawai‘i and Japan.

The delegation from Japan is known as the Society of Descendants of the First Japanese Embassy to the United States (SDFJ).

The Japanese delegation is joined by one local Hawaii family who traced their family lineage back to the first Japanese diplomats.

We live in a fantastic time, a period of history when people all over the world are learning about each other and connecting as never before.

Sure, it has its challenges.

But it also comes with opportunities and surprises galore. It's never dull.

What's next? Tune in! In the meantime please peruse this historical blog site. Share it. Be enriched and let your imagination soar.

You can contact me by email anytime:

JeffreyBinghamMead@gmail.com