In 1872, Meiji 5, the Asiatic Society was founded. The first meeting was in July 29th. A group of quite a diverse variety of people got together in Yokohama and wanted to set up an organization where they could share their studies and researches in regard to Japan. I shall just mention briefly some of their backgrounds and some of their names. Many of them were diplomats, or diplomat-scholars, as Ernest Satow was. There were others in this category; Watson, the minister who was so influential in establishing close relationships in those early years between England and Japan; Sir Harry Parks was also a very active person in the Asiatic Society, vice president, I believe, from the second year. Another name which I could mention is John Gibbons, who was also from the British Legation. There were teachers; Chamberlain has been mentioned, and Sansom, who contributed greatly to the study of cultural history and language of Japan. There were journalists, the name Lafcadio Hearn which we all know. Whether he is Amerin, Irish, or British, is of course a controversial element, but nonetheless he was active in the Society. There were medical doctors, or medical missionaries; the name Hepburn, whom I think you all know. We still use his roma-ji writing system to this day for writing Japanese. He was not English however, he was American, but he was part of this group. Later, Rudyard Kipling, another journalist visiting Japan, wrote extensively about Japan. There were quite a number of missionaries. Finally I would like to mention the very well known architect: Josiah Conder, the man from England who first taught western architecture in Japan. We still enjoy many of his buildings in Tokyo. The Iwasaki Residence in Ueno and the main building at my university, Seisen Women's University which was originally the residence of the Satsuma clan are examples. If you should have an opportunity to come and visit us, please do so. It's a wonderful Meiji period mansion, not a "manshon" in the modern Japanese sense, but in the old English sense with lovely gardens.

There were also Japanese present in this association. I will only mention one name, the name Mori Arinori. He was active in the Society from the second year of its founding, and he continued to be so (he was on the executive board) throughout his long and distinguished career in Japan. I need not tell all of you about his significant contributions to Japanese education, the Meiji Reformation that was going on at that time.

It was a very diverse group. But it is also interesting, on this occasion celebrating Japanese-British cultural, historical connections, to keep in mind that at that time, the international community, which the Asiatic Society was very much dependant upon, was very much under the influence of the very capable leadership of British Empire (not necessarily in a bad sense, but in the sense of outstanding persons and numbers). Sir Hugh Cortazzi, in his book Victorians in Japan (an excellent book which I recommend if you're interested in the Meiji Revolution and how westerners interacted with Japanese at that time), mentions that in Yokohama at that time a Council was established in which the positions were divided up among the various nationalities in the foreign quarters of Yokohama. There were 26 council members. Of these, 11 were British (almost half of group) then the Americans with 5, the next largest were the French with 4 representatives, then came the Dutch with 2 representatives, then 2 from Prussia (what is now known as Germany), 1 Portuguese and 1 Swiss. If you think of this as a proportional representation of the international community at that time, it was the British that were largest in numbers, and also in terms of leadership.

---