Saburō Takagi

Saburo Takagi was born in Edo in 1841 into a family serving the Shonai domain. He entered the shogunate’s naval training institute in 1859 and later studied in America. He attended Rutgers grammar school with Katsu Koroku, the son of Katsu Kaishu. In 1871 he became secretary of Japan’s Washington legation. ^{1, 2}

As acting representative, Takagi signed the postal convention with Postmaster General John A. J. Creswell on August 6, 1873. It established reciprocal mail arrangements and gave Japan the right to require American postal agencies in Japan to close after six months’ notice. ³

Takagi left the Foreign Ministry in 1880 and moved into the silk trade. As a director of Yokohama Doshin Company, he worked to expand overseas markets and improve sericulture and silk reeling. He died in 1909. ¹