Home>Outline & Activities>Message from WU-OES Dean
Academic interaction between Europe and Japan has not long history. Iwakura Mission was the first comprehensive national project to go round the world, in order to find new national goals for newly born country, shortly after the Meiji Restoration. They started Yokohama 1871 and visited 12 countries in about 22 months. ‘Rich country and strong military’ ’Encouragement of new industry’ and ‘Cultural enlightenment’ have been settled as national slogans. Earlier, some ambitious projects both of inbound and outbound have been carefully-executed at sub-system level. Sometimes pure accident happened to knock the door. As early as 1543, Chinese trading vessels from Siam was caught in a destructive storm on the sea and finally the ship was tossed ashore on the island of Tanegashima. Portuguese sailors were aboard. This was the first actual contact between Europeans and Japanese. They brought firearms and gunpowder to Japan. It lead revolutionary change of art of warfare. Shortly subsequent to the introduction of firearms, some Daimyos were to try to start to dominate the whole country. At the age of 1549, St. Francis Xavier arrived at Kagoshima. Four very young boys were sent to Pope in Rome 1582 from Nagasaki, sponsored by some Daimyos in Kyushu. Their ship had to go round the Cape of Good Hope at that time. It took almost 3 years to Rome. This project was the first transmission of information from Japan. Messenger were 12 year-old and 13 year-old boys. At the age of 1613, Tsunenaga Hasekura was sent to Spain and Rome via Mexico. History of intercommunication put an end legally. National isolation policy was adopted 1633 and 1641. From Europe, only Dutch people could visit Dejima. But other Europeans as Carl Peter Thunberg , Engelbert Kaempfer visited Japan also. Academic curiosity sometimes could not be pressed by rule. Some of founding-fathers of Waseda University spread their academic wings to Europe with some sense of mission and passion. Typically Founder Shigenobu Okuma advocated Parliamentary Government of British model . And now, Waseda University has wide range of academic agreements with leading universities in Europe. Now many researchers are engaged in European Studies. This scholarly network will play as an academic strategic base for creative outcomes for both regions.
