In the mid-nineteenth century, after a prolonged period of relative isolation, Japan resumed trade with much of the outside world. This shift to a more globalized commerce resulted in dramatic changes within Japan, and eventually throughout the world — its significance building so much as to partly cause the formation of a new Japanese government in the late 1860s.

Under the previous Shogunate governance, diplomatic missions had visited the United States in 1860 and Europe in 1862 and 1863. The new Meiji government had modernized objectives for its diplomatic visit and created the Iwakura Mission, also called the Iwakura Embassy, to undertake an expedition from 1871 to 1873. Roughly 50 members of the government participated, journeying to the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and several other countries.

On July 31st, 1872, the Iwakura Embassy explored the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA). The report also emphasizes the popularity of newspapers (Tribune) and the telegraph in the United States. In New York, the Iwakura Mission seems to focus on the intricacies of American technology in order to understand how it works and how such technologies could also benefit Japan.

At the time, many Japanese administrators were frustrated by their relationship with Western nations, feeling exploited economically and politically. The lwakura Mission was dispatched as a means to better understand the political, military, economic, and educational institutions of the United States and Europe, with hopes to amend the history of unequal treaties and re-establish Japan on the world stage.

Source: Rutgers Meets Japan: Early Encounters