11 Facts About Godai Tomoatsu

Godai Tomoatsu was one of the Satsuma students of 1865 who were smuggled out of Bakumatsu period Japan to study in Great Britain.

Godai Tomoatsu returned to become Japan's leading entrepreneur of the early Meiji period.

Godai Tomoatsu's plan included sending sixteen men and an interpreter to study in London.

Godai Tomoatsu himself was, naturally, one of 15 students to be sent to Great Britain to study at the University College, London in defiance of the Tokugawa bakufu's official national seclusion policy.

In 1865 Godai Tomoatsu made contact with Thomas Glover who steered negotiations with the Platt textile machinery giant in Oldham, Lancashire, England.

Godai Tomoatsu's UK visit included the Manchester Chamber of Commerce - reputed to have inspired the foundation of the pioneering Osaka Chamber and Industry.

Godai Tomoatsu later returned to Europe to negotiate with the Comte des Cantons Charles Montblanc to establish a joint venture commercial enterprise for the development of Satsuma's natural resources in exchange for European weapons and manufactured goods.

Godai Tomoatsu resigned from government service in 1869, and turned his full attention to business.

Godai Tomoatsu went on to found the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and the Osaka Stock Exchange.

Godai Tomoatsu participated in the Osaka Conference of 1875, which attempted to hold together the fragile coalition of feudal domains which dominated the early Meiji government.

Godai Tomoatsu was later implicated in the Hokkaido Colonization Office Scandal of 1881, which brought down the administration of Prime Minister Kuroda Kiyotaka.