When I visited Nagasaki a year and a half ago, I stumbled upon an old photograph dating from the mid-1800s showing five young Japanese men wearing suits, their hair cut short in Western style. The term “exchange students” must have come up in the explanation of the photograph, because that term got stuck in my mind. These “exchange students” made an impression on me. There was something about the way they were posed, almost carelessly around a balcony, one sitting on the rail, one leaning against it with his hand in his pocket and a certain swagger about him. The photograph was taken in the time when Japan was just starting to open up to the world, my favorite era, and I could imagine these young men bringing back knowledge that would help make Japan into a modern nation. I took a picture of the photograph and posted it on facebook, and I didn’t think about it much after that. But in the back of my mind the image lingered romantically, a symbol of an era.
Go forward a year an a half. Now, I’m in Hagi. I’ve rented a bicycle and I’m just beginning my barrage of history sightseeing. After visiting the Yoshida Shoin shrine, I decide to visit the former home of Ito Hirobumi, the first prime minister of Japan, who was born in the area. I find the house, and I’m about to go inside, when a sign catches my eye. I see a photograph of five young men lounging around a balcony. The photograph looks familiar.
Imagine my surprise to discover that one of my “Nagasaki exchange students” was the prime minister of Japan. And he wasn’t even the only important person pictured there. The sign in front of the house explained, with some English, that these young men (age 21-29) were the “Choshu* Five,” five men from Yamaguchi Prefecture who studied abroad in England and would play a large role in modernizing the nation. Ito Hirobumi, as I said, became the first prime minister of Japan. Inoue Kaoru was the first foreign minister, Yamao Yozo was the “Father of Engineering,” Inoue Masaru was the “Father of Railroads,” and Endo Kinsuke became the director of the mint. It’s kind of crazy, isn’t it? It’s one thing to imagine these people doing great deeds, it’s another to hear that they actually did. Ah, Japan. Where else can I trip over history one year, and find out what I tripped over the next.
*Choshu: The name of Yamaguchi Prefecture before the Meiji era. Choshu means “long state.”
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