Mutsu Munemitsu
After the Meiji Restoration, at the invitation of Mutsu Munemitsu, Okazaki left Wakayama for Tokyo in 1873. When Mutsu was appointed as ambassador to the United States, Okazaki accompanied him as his secretary and enrolled in the University of Michigan, where he became acquainted with Minakata Kumagusu. Okazaki returned to Japan in 1890, and was elected to the lower house of the Diet of Japan in the 1890 Japanese general election. It marked the start of his political career, and he was subsequently to be reelected to the House of Representatives for ten consecutive times. In 1897, he became a member of the Liberal Party of Japan (Jiyūtō). After Mutsu’s death, he became associated with another of Mutsu’s protégés, Hoshi Toru, and supported the overthrow of the Ōkuma Shigenobu administration, and the formation of the "Rikken Seiyūkai" party.