40 Family Members Visit Europe and America

Takamine and His Group Take a Trip

We can learn in detail about the inspection tour taken by Mitsui Takamine from the Gaiyuki (Record of a trip abroad), presumed to have been compiled by Sakurai Shinshiro. On April 21, 1910, Takamine and his group departed Tokyo’s Shinbashi Station on a Shimonoseki Express train. After being seen off by a large group of associates at a stop along the way, they arrived in Shimonoseki the next day. On the 23rd, they boarded the Kagi Maru, an Osaka Shosen ship bound from Moji for Dalian, China. On the 25th, the ship arrived in Dalian, and starting the next day, the group toured Hill 203 in Lushun (Port Arthur) and factories of the South Manchuria Railway (Mantetsu), among other sites. On the 29th, they boarded a sleeper car specially arranged for them by the railway and headed north. On May 2nd, they transferred to a special chartered passenger car on the Siberian Railway in Changchun and made their way to Harbin. Later, after visiting Russia, Germany, Italy, France and other countries, they had a lengthy stay in London. After crossing the Atlantic, landing in Canada, and touring New York and elsewhere, they crossed America by train and finally set off for home. Following, we take a closer look at their itinerary.

Trip to Russia (16 days)

May 3 Depart Harbin and enter Russia
May 11 Arrive in Moscow

The long, nine-day trip on the Siberian Railway could hardly have been called pleasant. According to the Gaiyuki, the group was often infuriated at the conditions-after being coerced into paying extra fees and almost having their luggage car removed, they exclaimed that, “The lawlessness of Russian railway officials is beyond shocking!” Perhaps having been pushed to his limit, Takamine developed a high fever and had to be seen by a doctor, and the group-thinking it would be safer to consult with the Japanese embassy-headed for the capital, which at the time was St. Petersburg.
May 14 Arrive in St. Petersburg (Takamine recovers and visits the Hermitage Museum and other sites)

Grand Tour of Europe (41 days)

May 18 Depart for Berlin (arriving the next day)
May 26 From Vienna to Italy
May 29 Arrive in Venice (→Fig. 40c)
June 1 Takamine’s group arrives in Florence (Dan and Sakka head to Munich to tour smelting plants, etc.)
June 4 Arrive in Rome (tour the Colosseum, etc.)
June 7 Depart Rome, arrive in Paris the next day (tour the Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral, etc.)

Takamine joined back up with Dan’s party and together they visited major French banks and its stock exchange. Motoko and Noriko enjoyed their time in Paris, ordering new dresses and shopping for jewelry at Tiffany’s (→Fig. 40b).

Stay in England (approx. two months)

June 27 The group leaves Paris and arrives in London
June 28 Visit Mitsui Bussan’s London branch
June 29 Visit the Japan-British Exhibition

During the group’s stay, they conducted visits to numerous financial institutions and industrial regions. Some of their main destinations included the Bank of England, the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Lloyd’s, the Cardiff coal mine and Vickers’s steel foundry. According to the Gaiyuki, Takamine and his group stopped by Cardiff, famous as a coal export port, measured the speed of its loading operations, and compared it to the state-of-the-art equipment at Miike Port (→35). The result, they found, was that Cardiff was “slightly slower” than Miike Port.

Inspection of Businesses in America (approx. 45 days)

September 9 From Liverpool to America (aboard the Empress of Britain, a luxury cruise ship)

Activities on board included grand balls, and since seas were calm the entire trip, the group remined in high spirits and arrived at Quebec, Canada on the 15th.
September 16 Arrive in Montreal (departing the next day)
September 17 Arrive in New York (staying at the Plaza Hotel)

The group visited the American Locomotive Company and General Electric (GE) multiple times. Takamine also made his way to Boston and New Jersey to call on his mentors from his time studying in America and to visit his school.
October 14 Travel cross-country by rail from New York

Departing New York, the group boarded a special car with a dining room, kitchen, a room for the chef, three bedrooms and a smoking room. They made stops in various places along the way, including Washington, the Grand Canyon and Los Angeles, engaging and sightseeing and more inspection visits.
November 1 Board Toyo Kisen’s Tenyo Maru in San Francisco (with a stop in Honolulu on the 7th)
November 18 Arrive at Yokohama Port (Takamine’s children welcome him at the pier)

Around February of 1910, Inoue Kaoru, advisor to the Mitsui family, advised Mitsui Takamine (back row, center) that he should take a tour of Europe and America. Accompanying him were eight others, including his wife Motoko (front row, center); eldest daughter Noriko (front row, right); Dan Takuma (front row, left); Sakurai Shinshiro (employee of Mitsui Gomei Kaisha); Sakka Saikichi (back row, left); interpreter Hisada Aiko; and Noriko’s maid, Kitajima Hanako. In later years, Masuda Takashi mentioned he had sent Dan on this tour as a key figure among Mitsui’s top management, and after returning to Japan, Takamine remarked that, “He’s the best, better than anyone else.” The seven-month-long journey proved an excellent opportunity for Takamine to learn about Dan’s character and abilities, and it also laid the groundwork for Mitsui’s business to be conducted under the joint leadership of Dan and Takamine. Note that of the total 212-day journey, about 50 days were spent on business-related inspections, with much of the remaining time devoted to sightseeing and visiting educational institutions. This tour of Europe and America was likely meaningful for Takamine, broadening his knowledge of foreign cultures and the arts as the head of the main Mitsui family.

This is a diary that Takamine’s wife, Motoko, kept recording the events of the journey and her impressions of the places they visited. On June 8, they arrived in Paris, where she noted, “This is a place of the latest fashions, where women are dressed in their luxurious clothing and jewelry.” The next day, she and Noriko visited a tailor, where they ordered new dresses. On the 20th, they were invited to a dinner party at the Japanese Embassy, of which she wrote, “These dinner parties are famous here, festive occasions where all the best-dressed people gather,” and “We’ll be attending in our new clothes, too.”

Upon their arrival in Venice, the group road a gondola and stayed at the Britannia Hotel.