The A to Z of United States-Japan Relations by Van John Sant & Peter Mauch & Yoneyuki Sugita

Author:Van John Sant & Peter Mauch & Yoneyuki Sugita
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781461720393
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Published: 2013-12-09T16:00:00+00:00

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KAGOSHIMA BOMBARDMENT. In August 1863, a British squadron of seven ships bombarded Kagoshima, the capital city of Satsuma domain, in retaliation for the murder the previous year of a British merchant by Satsuma samurai in the Namamugi Incident. After the bombardment of Kagoshima, the Tokugawa bakufu agreed to pay an indemnity to the British government.

KAISEIJO. Originally called “the Institute for the Study of Barbarian Books,” the name of this government-funded college in Edo was changed in 1863 to “Kaiseijo,” meaning Institute for Development. It was the Tokugawa shogunate's primary center for higher education in Western languages, sciences, and military studies. Later known as Kaisei Gakko, it formed part of the original University of Tokyo founded in 1877.

KANAGAWA TREATY (1854). Formally known as the U.S.–Japan Treaty of Friendship, this treaty was negotiated and signed by U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry and Tokugawa shogunate officials in March 1854. The three major agreements in the treaty are: better treatment for shipwrecked sailors; allowing purchase of coal, wood, fresh water, and other provisions by American ships at the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate; and allowing an American diplomat at Shimoda. This was the first formal treaty between Japan and a Western government. See also ANSEI TREATIES; HARRIS, TOWNSEND.

KANEKO, KENTARO (1853–1942). Early Japanese overseas student who studied at Harvard University from 1872 to 1878, where he became friends with fellow student Theodore Roosevelt. Kaneko was a close associate of Hirobumi Ito, and held a number of positions in the Meiji government, including serving as Japan's Ambassador to the United States during the Russo–Japan War, which occurred during President Theodore Roosevelt's administration. See also JAPANESE STUDENTS IN AMERICA.

KATAYAMA, SEN (1860–1933). Influential labor leader, socialist, and Christian, Katayama studied in the United States from 1884 to 1894, mostly at Yale University, before returning to Japan and founding the first labor newspaper (published in both Japanese and English). He helped establish the original Japan Socialist Party in 1906. In 1914, he returned to the United States and settled in California. By the time of the Russian Revolution in 1917, Katayama had become a communist and moved to Moscow in 1922, where he died 11 years later. See also JAPANESE STUDENTS IN AMERICA.

KATŌ, KANJI (1870–1939). Admiral Kanji Katō was a hawkish figure—and an important one at that—in the Imperial Japanese Navy throughout the Taishō and Shōwa periods. Impulsive and hot-headed, he was widely popular with younger officers within the service. Unfortunately, Katō prioritized cultivating and maintaining that popularity over and above cold calculations of national interest.

In 1891, Katō graduated from the Naval Academy, and was chief gunner on the enormous battleship Mikasa during the RUSSO–JAPANESE WAR of 1904–1905. His pedigree was impeccable: after serving as Admiral Gombei Yamamoto's aide-de-camp in 1906, he was posted in 1909 as naval attaché to the Japanese embassy in London. He attended the Washington Conference of 1921–1922, and emerged as a vociferous opponent of plenipotentiary (and navy minister) Admiral Tomosaburō Katō's decision to accept the American proposal for the reduction of capital ship strength according to the ratio of 5:5:3 for the United States, Great Britain, and Japan.

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