Description: In 1867 Kusakabe Taro, a young samurai from Fukui, Japan, began studying at Rutgers as its first foreign student. Three years later, in 1870, his former tutor, friend, and Rutgers graduate, William Elliot Griffis, left for Japan to teach English and science. Griffis and Kusakabe were a small piece of a vast transnational network of leading modernizers of Japan in the 1860s and 70s. Through contributions from scholars and archivists in the U.S., Canada, and Japan, Rutgers Meets Japan aims to reconstruct these early Rutgers-Japan connections.
Review Quotes: "By tracing the lives of key figures and formative themes in unprecedented detail, Rutgers Meets Japan demonstrates the singular role Rutgers played in the formative years of Japanese modernization, and by extension its importance in developing Japan-U.S. relations more broadly. The book stands alone, providing its own timely and unique contribution to our knowledge of Japan-U.S. relations."--Andrew Cobbing "associate professor of history, University of Nottingham" (6/6/2025 12:00:00 AM)