Munenori Terashima

Munenori Terashima, born in Kagoshima in 1832, first trained in medicine and Dutch studies. Known earlier as Matsuki Koan, he experimented with Western technology and travelled with the shogunate’s European embassy in 1862. He returned to Britain with the Satsuma overseas study mission in 1865, undertaking diplomatic negotiations while other members pursued technical study. ^{1, 2, 3}

Terashima became Japan’s minister in Britain and then foreign minister from 1873 to 1879. Treaty revision and the recovery of tariff authority occupied his ministry. He also served as education minister and president of the Genroin before receiving the Washington appointment in 1882. His name appears on Japan’s February 1874 approval of the postal convention negotiated in Washington, a measure allowing Japan to require the closure of American postal agencies on its territory. ^{2, 3, 4}

In Washington, Terashima inherited the long dispute over repayment of the American share of the Shimonoseki indemnity. Japanese lobbying had become controversial in Congress. According to a historical account drawing on Japan's diplomatic documents, Inoue Kaoru instructed Terashima in January 1883 to avoid pressing the claim further and leave the decision to the American government. Congress approved repayment that February. After his American posting, Terashima chaired commissions on bankruptcy and commercial law and served as vice-president of the Privy Council. He died in 1893. ^{2, 5}