December 23, 1871, the Iwakura Mission left Yokohama for the United States, the first stop on its expedition. The duties of the Iwakura Mission were roughly centered around the following three goals: (1) to call on the heads of state for each country visited, present an official diplomatic document from the emperor, and make courtesy calls in countries for which treaties were not yet concluded; (2) approach or begin preliminary negotiations for treaty revisions to include extensions of approaching discussion; (3) investigate and study various systems, industries, and cultures in America and Europe.（Ref.A04017147400）.

The most vital of these goals was considered to be the second, since preliminary negotiations and treaty revisions were considered the best way to place Japan on equal footing with America and Europe while showing Japan to the global community.

On February 29, 1872, the Iwakura Mission arrived in Washington D.C. They visited the White House on March 4 （Ref. A04017148600） and held audience with U.S. President Grant, to whom they presented official diplomatic documents. At a ceremony, extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador Iwakura Tomomi in a speech declared that Japan would learn about foreign societies and build friendly diplomatic ties with America and Europe （Ref.A04017149200）.

This statement had not been anticipated by the Japanese. The main subjects of the talks for the day became the extension of the period for treaty revisions and whether the Japanese had authority to sign a new treaty, and so questions and answers went back and forth between the two sides and, day’s talks ended without a concrete agreement from the Americans.

After the first talk, Ito Hirobumi and Mori Arinori proposed to switch the official revision talks from the preliminary negotiations of the treaty. The enthusiasm with which Mori and Ito appealed for the need for plenary power largely changed the purpose of the mission and became a key factor leading to the extension of their stay in America.

March 13, Iwakura called the envoy extraordinaries and minister plenipotentiaries Kido, Okubo and Ito for discussions on whether the mission should enter into negotiations for treaty revisions. This resulted in a decision to begin official negotiations. On March 20, Ito and Okubo returned to Japan temporarily and made preparations for the assumption of full authority.

Just before their return to Japan, Ito and Okubo discussed with Iwakura and Kido the main points to consider regarding the progress of past talks. It was determined that as for the consular jurisdiction and the tariff autonomy went, treaty revisions would succeed if some conditions were satisfied in future negotiations.

However in actual fact, the gap between Japan and the United States was growing wider along with repeated talks, and signs of breakdown in negotiations were expected unless conflicting opinions could be resolved （Ref.A04017148800）.

Iwakura and others participated in an eleventh meeting of the same day, the proposal of the Japanese was again refused by America, and the negotiations for treaty revision broke down without reaching an agreement.

In the end, Japan and the United States could not find a compromise, and a treaty was never signed. In this way, eleven negotiation rounds with the United States ended in failure. Afterwards, there also weren’t any substantial advances in negotiations with other countries.

Still, it is thought that the significance of the Iwakura Mission was great – because the information and experience that the mission gained abroad had a great influence on future Japanese foreign ministers and their methods of negotiation.

At this time, the "westernization policy," kept an aim to push negotiations for treaty revision forward smoothly by promoting the idea both domestically and internationally that Japan was already a modern nation. Like Ito, Inoue was active in the process of westernization, but Inoue had not been part of the mission. However, it may be said that the reason he could create such a concept was due to the influence of the mission and Foreign Minister Terashima, whom he succeeded.

It is reasonable that the dispatch of the Iwakura Mission formed the basis for Japan’s development into a modern nation, and contributed to late Meiji era revisions on unequal treaties, the abolishment of consular jurisdiction, and the recovery of tariff autonomy.

The early Meiji Japanese Government confronted unequal treaties with other countries, making it challenging to establish a modern legal system. As a result, a number of people in the Iwakura Mission had been dispatched by the Department of Justice to study legal systems namely, Councilor Sasaki Takayuki, and his attendants Okauchi Shigetoshi, Nakano Takeaki, Hiraga Yoshitada and Nagano Fumiakira along with Iwakura. Members of the mission were joined abroad by eight others: Kono Togama, Tsuruta Akira, Kishira Kaneyasu, Inoue Kowashi, Masuda Katsunori, Numa Morikazu, Namura Taizo, and Kawaji Toshiyoshi. How much did the Department of Justice contribute to the mission and the establishment of the Japanese judicial system?

This proposal was accepted, and the Department of Justice inspection party and Sameshima Naonobu, who was Minister to France at the time, began to petition for the selection of a suitable foreign consultant.

French jurist Boissonade was selected and came to Japan to fill the role of foreign consultant. Boissonade was born in 1825. After receiving a doctorate in judicial studies from the University of Paris in 1852, he became an assistant professor of the university in 1867, by way of the University of Grenoble. Boissonade, who received a request from Minister Sameshima, lectured to Department of Justice inspection party members Tsuruta, Kishira, Inoue, Namura, Kawaji, and Imamura Waro who had been dispatched to Europe by the Ministry of Education. Boissonade received his invitation to work in Japan from Sameshima per Eto’s instruction. The negotiations of the invitation encountered difficulties, but in June 1873, Boissonade at last signed a contract with the Japanese government abroad and, in November of the same year, traveled to Japan accompanied by Namura.

Among the members of the inspection party who attended Boissonade’s lectures in Paris, many who would go on to play central roles in the development of the Japanese judicial system, such as Inoue, who would draft the Meiji Constitution and Imperial Rescript on Education, and Kishira and Namura who acted as chief justices in the Supreme Court. Ume Kenjiro, who was in charge of drafting the current civil law after the old civil law, was one of the students who studied under Boissonade at the Department of Justice law school. It may be said that Department of Justice benefitted greatly from the Iwakura Mission in contributing to the establishment of Japan’s judicial system.

The Meiji government began a modernization policy with the Meiji Restoration, which pushed forward the introduction of Japan’s modern education system in place of a traditional hanko (domain school) and terakoya (small private schools of the Edo Period). The Ministry of Education was established in 1871 when an abolition of feudal domains and establishment of prefectures was in effect, and the ministry was charged with the administration of education. The first modern fundamental law of the education system, Gakusei (The Education System Order, promulgated in 1872) was established by the Ministry of Education not long after its inception. For the modernization of education in Japan, it was deemed necessary to go about preparing the domestic education system by collecting information and inspecting educational systems in America and Europe. As part of the above approach, it was decided that a councilor (an inspector) would be dispatched with the Iwakura Mission from the Ministry of Education. Tanaka Fujimaro (1845-1909) then, a senior officer in the Ministry of Education, was chosen.

Councilor Tanaka and the parties that followed arrived at San Francisco with the mission’s main body on January 15, 1871 (December 6, 1871) and from there commenced inspection of educational facilities in various parts of America. Kido Takayoshi, who was in charge of the education policy for the mission joined in the inspection of the United States and parts of France. In Washington D.C. where they arrived on March 8, 1872, Niijima Jo, who had left Japan illegally in 1864, was employed as an interpreter. It was Mori Arinori who recommended employing Niijima. Mori was then Japanese charge d'affaires to the U.S., and would later become Minister of Education. After this, Niijima was tasked with the translation of materials collected in various parts of the country and the preparation of original form plans of the councilor report, which was compiled later in "Monbusho Riji Kotei (Councilor report, Ministry of Education)." Incidentally, Kondo Shinzo and Imamura Waro separated from the party just after Tanaka’s arrival to Washington. Kondo went to Germany, and Imamura went to France.

On May 11, 1872, after the party finished its inspection of the United States, it traveled to the U.K. in advance of the mission main body, to explore various parts of Europe. Ultimately, the Ministry of Education councilor party stayed in the United States approximately four months, in the U.K. approximately two months, in Prussia approximately four months, and then went on to France, Switzerland, Russia, the Netherlands and Denmark. The Ministry of Education councilor party finished its inspection and left Europe in February, 1873 to return home on March 24.

After returning to Japan, the Ministry of Education published "Councilor report, Ministry of Education" under the title of "Riji Kotei (Councilor report)" by the Tanaka councilor party (1873-1875). Only the Ministry of Education would publish reports of the councilors to the public, with the exception of Yasukawa Shigenari of the Mission Legislative Chamber (Sa-in). From this source, it became known that Tanaka and others intended to spread the results throughout Japan. 　

In this way, Tanaka Fujimaro endeavored to modernize education in Japan but, as Kyoiku-rei came under criticism by conservatives who mistakenly believed that the ideas within "might promote non-interference education," he was transferred out of the education field and appointed minister of justice in 1880. He would never return to educational administration. The Kyoiku-rei was revised in 1880 and 1885, but remained relevant as the basic law of the education. Legislation for education changed dramatically after Mori Arinori, who welcomed the Iwakura Mission in the United States, took office as Minister of Education in 1885. The fundamental law of education changed to a series of school ordinances the Gakko-rei (Order of School System) from Kyoiku-rei in 1886 and the Imperial Rescript on Education drafted by Inoue Kowashi and others was presented to people of Japan in the name of Emperor in 1890 the following year when Mori Arinori was assassinated. The education policy since the days of Tanaka Fujimaro had changed dramatically.

Any discussion of modern history in Japan in the areas of politics, economics, education, or thought would be difficult without mentioning members of the Iwakura Mission. The influence of the mission is long-lasting due to the fact that not only influential politicians and bureaucrats in active service such as Iwakura Tomomi, Kido Takayoshi, Okubo Toshimichi, and Ito Hirobumi attended, but also through the participation of young who studied abroad, including students like Tsuda Ume, a girl, just six years old.

43 students are thought to have officially joined the Iwakura Mission, but there were other attendants to the ambassadors and commissioners who studied abroad. These included many children of court nobles and former daimyo (feudal lords) who became prefectural governors. Among attendants, the children of the former shogunate retainers and former Aizu samurais, such as the female students dispatched the Hokkaido Development Commission, were also present, as were relatives of influential people such as Makino Nobuaki, Yamagata Isaburo and others.

Among the overseas students, Makino Nobuaki, Kaneko Kentaro, Hirata Tosuke, and Yamagata Isaburo would rise to the rank of cabinet ministers. Makino Nobuaki was the second son of the full power Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary Okubo Toshimichi. His studies in the United States lasted for approximately two and a half years and he would go on to enter the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where he would hold successive positions as a legislative bureaucrat, local government official, vice-minister of the Ministry of Education, minister of education, minister of agriculture and commerce, minister of foreign affairs, and would later took charge of the delegation practically as second ambassador plenipotentiary in the Paris Peace Conference. He was also a confidant of Emperor Showa while he acted as the Imperial Household Minister and lord keeper of the Privy Seal in the interwar period. In the postwar period, he was an influential adviser to the emperor and Imperial Court, and was father-in-law of Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru.

Kaneko Kentaro worked on the Meiji Constitution, and held successive posts as minister of agriculture and commerce and minister of justice after the Iwakura Mission, continued his study of law at Harvard University. Making good use of his network of school friends, such as Theodore Roosevelt, who would become President of the United States, Kaneko’s efforts to bolster Japan-U.S. friendship would continue throughout his life.

The influence of foreign study after the Iwakura Mission was clearly visible due to consistent pro-Britain and pro-United States tendencies that colored post-mission careers, and it is surprising that this influence reached as far as the postwar period.

Yamagata Isaburo and Hirata Tosuke studied in Germany while many other group of members concentrated in the United States. Isaburo who was an adopted child of Yamagata Aritomo was promoted to the rank of official for the Ministry of Home Affairs and later became minister of communications and inspector-general of political affairs of the Government-General of Korea.

The influence of Nakae Chomin cannot be overlooked in post-Iwakura Mission Japanese political history or history of thought. Nakae was among the overseas students accompanying the Iwakura Mission. Nakae, who negotiated directly with Okubo Toshimichi, received a post as a government official after returning from his studies in France. However, he spent much time out of the office writing, and became a leader of the movement for democratic rights. Thus, did the legacy of the Iwakura Mission spread over the civilian society.

Needless to say, Tsuda Ume’s contributions to education were tremendous. Tsuda, who studied biology at Bryn Mawr College, went on to establish Joshi Eigaku Juku (Women’s School of English Studies, forerunner of Tsuda College), and pushed for the advancement of women’s education in Japan. Other female foreign scholars included Nagai Shige (later, Uryu Shige), who studied musicology at Vassar College and would later build the foundations for music education at the Ministry of Education’s Music Bureau and also the Tokyo Music School. If Niijima Jo (founder of Doshisha University) who attended the mission while still enrolled in a theological college in the United States, and Watanabe Hiromoto (the first President of Tokyo Imperial University) who was a secretary for the mission, are included in the group, the overseas students can be seen to have had an immeasurable influence on the foundations of the modern Japanese academics.

Not all the students on the Iwakura Mission would achieve success. For example, Shuntaro, eldest son of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary Yamaguchi Masuka, spent nine years studying in the U.K. and then graduated from the College of Engineering, Imperial University, only to wander Kyushu Railway, work at MITSUI & Co., Ltd. as a railway engineer, and manage railway offices. In the end, he would fail in the oil engine business. The era in which one could succeed and join the ranks of the elite just from excellence in language, or extensive experience in foreign countries was coming to an end.

Taking cases like those above into consideration, it may be said that the influence that the students of the Iwakura Mission brought to modern Japan was great indeed. From the bureaucratic world, to finance, to civil rights and education, the Iwakura Mission students had a tremendous influence on creating Japan as it is known today.

It is said that Kuroda Kiyotaka, vice-minister of the Colonization Commission after the Meiji Restoration, learned of the relatively high social status of women in the West while inspecting development work and realized the importance of women’s education. For this reason, female students were recruited for establishment of girls' schools and vocational training in Hokkaido. Ffive women were selected to join the Iwakura Mission, Yamakawa Sutematsu, Tsuda Ume, Nagai Shige, Ueda Tei and Yoshsimasu Ryo.

Six-year-old Tsuda Ume was the youngest, and would continue her studies abroad for 11 years and ultimately graduate, in Washington D.C., from Archer Institute. After returning to Japan, she is known for having founded Joshi Eigaku Juku (Women's School of English Studies), which was the forerunner of Tsuda College. Her activities after returning to Japan until founding her college are summarized as follows.

It was Ito Hirobumi, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the Iwakura Mission that assisted Tsuda. Ito let Tsuda stay in his home, asked her to be his English interpreter and tutor to his wife and daughter. Tsuda was encouraged to get married by various people, but she decided to live stay unmarried and live in obscurity while studying Japanese.

In 1885, three years after returning to Japan, she was able to find a long-awaited job. A government institution, the Peeresses' School, was opened, and Tsuda was employed as assistant professor on recommendation from Ito.

Tsuda had taken a big step to in becoming a school teacher, but the educational thought at the time, that women should be good wives and wise mothers, made her goals challenging. Under the educational policy of the Peeresses' School, girls were educated separately from boys, and subjects useful only for household affairs were provided for girls. Under such circumstances, Tsuda began wanting to move into a higher education setting in order to continue her scholastic growth.

Tsuda majored in biology. Her success showed in her published research papers. She would spend three fruitful years at Oswego Primary Teachers Training School where she learned teaching methods for half a year. Ume respected Thomas’ push for the development of higher education for women as a good model to follow.

After returning to Japan, Tsuda taught at Peeresses' School again, while planning to found a school at which Japanese women could receive higher education to reach their potential. The government finally launched systemic reforms in women’s education in response to the changes in the domestic situation that accompanied the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, and the increase in girls' schools came without a firm institutional basis. "The Women’s Higher Education Law" and "Order of Private Schools" were promulgated in 1899, a system of the girls' secondary education was established and with that came increased expectations for higher education.

In 1903, Joshi Eigaku Juku was accredited as a technical school following the proclamation of the "Vocational Training School Order," and the conferment of the English teacher's license without examination for women became possible for the first time. These movements paved the way for women to acquire specialized knowledge, and go out into the world independently. In this way, Tsuda Ume opened a new era for women’s higher education.

Today, Japanese women have opportunities to receive higher education and move upward in society. When tracing the roots, we find the lifelong devotion of women such as Tsuda Ume from the Meiji Period.