Iwakura Mission
Son of a samurai retainer from Numazu, Shizuoka, Tejima travelled privately to the United States in 1870 entering a secondary school in Philadelphia and then attending classes at Lafayette College. When the Iwakura Mission arrived in Washington DC in early 1872 he offered his services as a translator and stayed with the mission as they travelled to Europe. In 1873 he returned to the United Kingdom to study rail transportation.