Tomita Tetsunosuke (December 5, 1835 – February 27, 1916) was a Japanese samurai (samurai of the Sendai clan), bureaucrat, diplomat, and businessman.

In 1867, he accompanied Katsu Kaishu’s son, Koroku, to the U.S. to study economics at the Newark School of Commerce, which W.C. Whitney established. The Meiji government accepted Tomita as a foreign student for his academic excellence.

In 1872, he was sent on an envoy mission to New York, where he was met by Toshimichi Okubo and Hirobumi Ito, as well as the Director of the Iwakura mission and was appointed consul general (later vice consul general) in New York and promoted to a diplomatic post in the Meiji government.

In 1988, Tomita served as the first deputy governor and second chairman of the Bank of Japan, but was dismissed after a confrontation with the Minister of Finance, Masayoshi Matsukata. Tomita later served as a member of the House of Lords and Governor of Tokyo.

Source: National Diet Library of Japan “The History of Tokyo Prefecture”