Jirō Yano

Jiro Yano was born in Edo in 1845, the son of a shogunate retainer, and entered the Yano family by adoption. English study led to work as an interpreter and a journey with the shogunate’s mission to Europe in 1863–1864. He later opened a translation office in Yokohama. Arinori Mori recommended him for the Foreign Ministry, and in 1870 he went to the United States, where he eventually served as chargé d’affaires. ¹

Yano carried the American-Japanese postal agreement from signature toward implementation. On April 18, 1874, he and Postmaster General John A. J. Creswell exchanged ratifications of the convention concluded the previous August. In July he signed detailed implementing regulations with Postmaster General J. W. Marshall. The arrangement provided for reciprocal mail exchanges and allowed Japan to require the discontinuance of American postal agencies within its territory. ²

Returning to Japan in 1875, Yano left diplomatic service to direct the commercial training school founded by Mori. He continued to lead its successor institutions, including the Higher Commercial School, until 1893; they developed into today’s Hitotsubashi University. He became an appointed member of the House of Peers in 1904 and died two years later. ¹