松方正義
In 1871, following the Meiji Restoration, Watanabe and his brother were called to Tokyo, and were able to secure positions at the new Ministry of Popular Affairs with Ōkubo’s assistance. In 1873, he joined the Ministry of the Treasury. However, with the Seikanron debate and issues caused by the Freedom and People's Rights Movement, Ōkubo called upon Watanabe as a troubleshooter for the Home Ministry, sending him a governor of Kōchi Prefecture and Tokushima Prefecture in 1876, and with the start of the Satsuma Rebellion, sending him as governor of Fukuoka Prefecture in 1877, and back to Kōchi in 1879. Ultimately unsuccessful in assisting Ōkubo, he resigned his posts and retired to seclusion in Kyoto, where he devoted his time to studies of French, German and English, as well as classical Latin and Greek. With the government reorganization of 1881, Watanabe was recalled to government service by Matsukata Masayoshi in 1882 as Chief of the Research Bureau of the Finance Ministry, followed by Budgetary Director in 1886 and Finance Secretary in 1888.