Townsend Harris
During 1930, Prince Iyesato Tokugawa and Baron Eiichi Shibusawa sat side by side attending a diplomatic ceremony linked to U.S.–Japan relations. They were commemorating the first United States Minister to Japan Townsend Harris. This ceremony presented the unveiling of a monument honoring the memory of Townsend Harris. Minister Townsend Harris came to Japan in 1856 and opened the first U.S. consulate at the Temple Gyokusen-ji in the city of Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. Townsend Harris (October 3, 1804 – February 25, 1878) was a successful New York City merchant and the first United States Consul General to Japan. He negotiated the “Harris Treaty” between the U.S. and Japan and is credited as the diplomat who first opened the Empire of Japan to foreign trade and culture in the Edo period (Meiji Restoration period). Shibusawa became friends with Townsend Harris during Harris’s time in Japan. Also attending this commemorative event was Charles MacVeagh U.S. Ambassador to Japan, and Dr. Baron Yoshiro Sakatani, one of Japan's foremost economists, former mayor of Tokyo, and former minister of finance. Dr. Sakatani was the step-son of Baron Eiichi Shibusawa. Also attending this event was Prince Iyesato Tokugawa's son, Iemasa Tokugawa, then-former chancellor at the Japanese embassy in London, and recently appointed Japanese consul general for Sydney, Australia.