Can an exchange program change a country? In Japan’s case, it seems the answer is a resounding yes.
In the dying days of the last Shogun era of Japan, a group of elders in Chōshū (what is now Yamaguchi Prefecture) picked five of their most promising Samurais and smuggled them out of the country (foreign travel was banned) to head to London on two (opium) trading ships to learn from the West. When they returned to Japan these five had an outsize impact on the country, becoming Prime Minster (and author of the constitution), Foreign Minister, head of the railways, head of the mint and a major shipping magnate.
I heard this dinner last night at the Ditchley Foundation, in response to my question to a Japanese Foreign Service officer about what made Japan Japan. I didn’t expect such a pithy or Hollywood-ready answer. It seems that Japan’s hyper-civilised society, strong sense of civic duty, gleaming office blocks, and those floating, aquiline Shinkansen bullet trains can in large part be traced back to this intrepid trip, and the experiences they got at University College London in 1864. (Incidentally, it also speaks to the benefits of openness on our side – neither Oxford nor Cambridge allowed foreign students at that time).
These five had an outsize influence on today’s Japan, helping shape its politics, society and yes, those awesome trains:
- Ito Hirobumi, the father of the Japanese Constitution and the first Prime Minister of Japan.
- Kaoru Inoue, the first Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
- Kinsuke Endo, founding Master of the Japanese Mint Bureau
- Masaru Inoue, the founder and President of the Japanese Board of Railways
- Yozo Yamao, Secretary of State in Japan’s Ministry of Industry and established the first Institute of Technology. He also introduced sign language into the education system.
Ironically, it seems that modern day Japan is less interested in studying and traveling abroad; a young ex foreign service officer told me that studying abroad is no longer seen as a benefit to employment back in Japan. And closer to home, the ability to live, work and love in 27 countries on our doorstep is being taken away. While it’s doubtful the benefits of Erasmus or the European Commission’s stage program (that I benefitted from) can be traced directly to a shiny new train system, their imminent removal is just another overlooked, silent casualty of Brexit.
Image credit; Embassy of Japan, Washington DC
