01483nam a2200157Ia 450000500170000000800410001702000190005808200150007710000200009224500700011226000480018230000250023050000510025552009880030665000310129420250117103721.0250117s9999    xx            000 0 und d  a97805211735162  a327.520KUN  aKume, Kunitake. 0aJapan risingbthe Iwakura embassy to the USA and Europe 1871-1873  aCambridgebCambridge University Pressc2009  axxx, 528 p. ; 24 cm.  aIncludes bibliographical references and index.  aIn 1871 Japan sent a high-ranking delegation to the USA and Europe, to negotiate treaties and trading agreements and to investigate how it might modernise its political and economic institutions. Led by the Foreign Minister Prince Tomomi Iwakura, the 'embassy' of politicians, courtiers and officials travelled extensively around the USA for eight months, before spending a further year examining the British manufacturing industry, German armaments and French culture. The Iwakura Embassy helped change the course of Japanese history, for the official report of this journey, compiled by Prince Iwakura's personal secretary, the Confucian scholar Kunitake Kume, was to play a key role in Japan's transformation into a modern industrial nation. The report was translated into English in five large volumes in 2002. This carefully prepared abridgement makes it accessible to a wider range of scholars and students, and to all who are interested in the remarkable rise of modern Japan.  aKume, Kunitake, 1839-1931.