Reactions to the First Japanese Embassy to the United State

Abstract

In 1860, Iargely due to the persistent efforts of the American Consul Townsend Harris, the government of Japan dispatched to the United States the first official embassy ever sent to a Western nation. Initially, there were two general reactions to the Japanese delegation: government officials, major newspaper people, and business interests welcomed the Japanese as ambassadors from a superior people who brought national honor and possibly trade to the United States; at another level, however, nameless thousands of citizens saw the members of the delegation as mere objects of curiosity and wondered why was there such fanfare over a "bunch of heathen colored people."