Page:Japan by the Japanese (1904).djvu/96

I was one of the first Japanese to visit foreign lands, and was only able to do so by stealth, escaping to Shanghai in 1863. The country was only just opened to foreign intercourse, and Japanese subjects were not yet allowed to leave the country.

I have always been very much in favour of the adoption of the principles of Western civilization by Japan, and I have been enabled to use my services in the direction of assisting the present progress and transformation in Japan’s estate. In the thirty-four years during which I have held office I have always tried to help, and sometimes even to force on to the antagonistic spirits, measures necessary for the growth of modern Japan. From the beginning we realized fully how necessary it was that the Japanese people should not only adopt Western methods, but should also speedily become competent to do without the aid of foreign instruction and supervision. In the early days we brought many foreigners to Japan to help to introduce modern methods, but we always did it in such a way as to enable the Japanese students to take their rightful place in the nation after they had been educated. I must say that sometimes the foreigners, and even the foreign nations themselves, endeavoured to take advantage of the Japanese inexperience by passing men off as experts when they really knew next to nothing of the subjects for which they were engaged. We were, however, able to secure the services of many excellent men whose names are still honoured in Japan, although they themselves have long since left her shores.

On the occasion of my second visit to London as one of the Ambassadors of our country, it was suggested to me that it would be most beneficial to establish a special Engineering College in Japan, where every branch of engineering should be taught. Such a college would be quite unique, no other nation having one. The idea seemed a very good one, and on my return to Japan I took the necessary steps, and with the