Originality conundrum: British education of engineers in Meiji Japan (1868–1912)

Britain played a vital role in the early years of Meiji Japan (1868–1912), when the country was undergoing rapid transformation as it adopted Western technologies like railroads and the telegraph. The British influence extended beyond simply transferring technical skills, however. Young, idealistic British instructors wanted to help cultivate in their Japanese students the spirit of an engineer—an independent and creative mindset that could change the world. In teaching these ideas, the British professors were fighting against a widespread prejudice that the Japanese were innately imitative and lacked the ability to think creatively and take initiative. This paper focuses on the pedagogical approach of professors at the Imperial College of Engineering, Tokyo, and its effect on the careers of their students. The main protagonists of this story are Henry Dyer, the College's principal, and two of his students, railway engineer Minami Kiyoshi and biochemist Takamine Jōkichi.