I majored in English at Tokyo Gaigo Daigaku (= Tokyo University of Foreign Studies); I'm still (!) in the Department of English at OSU.
Tokyo Gaigo Daigaku traces its history back to Bansho Shirabesho (= Institute for the Study of Barbarian Documents) established in 1856 (I think), a Tokugawa governmental institution for translation of European documents (Portuguese, Spanish, & Dutch at first & later English, German, & French) into Japanese. One of the landmarks in the history of capitalism and modernity in Japan....
***** ...This particular institution [Bansho Sirabesho] did not teach economics, but numerous members of its staff (most notably Kanda Takahira and Tsuda Mamichi) were the first translators and propagators of Western Economic thought....
Western economic thought was also brought to Japan by way of private schools, such as the Keio Gijuku, founded in 1858, by Fukuzawa Yukichi, a leading proponent of Western liberalism even before the Meiji Restoration (Suzuki 48). Yukichi made numerous visits to Western countries in the early 1860's and collected as many writings as he could. Included in his collection of texts was American Francis Wayland's Elements of Political Economy. Yukichi was so enamored with Wayland's work that he began to include Western economics in his teachings, thus making the Keio Gijuku the first Japanese Institution to teach Western economics before the Meiji Restoration (Suzuki 48).
Prior to the Restoration, the only text on Western economics that was readily available was the History of Money and Banking in the Dutch West Indies. After the Restoration, however, the proliferation of Western economic texts increased at an exponential rate as the following texts emerged:
Ellis's Outline of Social Economy in 1867 Malthus's Essay on the Principles of Population in 1876 Jevon's Money and Mechanism of Exchange in 1882 List's National System of Political Economy in 1889 Smith's Wealth of Nations translated in pieces throughout the 1880's (Suzuki 50).
The translation of texts alone, however, was not sufficient to educate the Japanese on such a complex matter as Western economics. To garner first hand knowledge on the subject, numerous samurai (who made up virtually all of the Meiji scholars) traveled abroad to hear lectures and attend classes on economics. Most notable were Kanda Takahira (previously mentioned) and Nishi Amane and Tsuda Mamichi (also mentioned). Together, Amane and Mamichi traveled to Holland in 1872 to study economics under Simon Vissering. Upon their return, the two traveling scholars founded the "1873 Society" in collaboration with other proponents of Western thought. The society published its scholarly debates in a journal, entitled Meiroku Zasshi (Suzuki 49). This journal would later come to play a significant role in the acceptance, or lack thereof, of certain capitalist theories.
To further their understanding of Western economics, samurai scholars also employed human resources in the form of Western professors and experts on economics. Tokyo University, for example, hired the American professor Ernest Fenollosa to teach economics in the 1870's (Suzuki 47)....
Morris-Suzuki, Tessa. A History of Japanese Economic Thought. New York: Nissan Institute for Japanese Studies, 1991.
<http://intra.colby-sawyer.edu/honors99u/economics.htm> *****
From Fenollosa, we may move onto discussion of Ezra Pound, Orientalism, and Modernism, but as I am not a Pound scholar, I'd like to pass the topic to Carrol. -- Yoshie
* Calendar of Anti-War Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Anti-War Activist Resources: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html> * Anti-War Organizing in Columbus Covered by the Media: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/media.html>