The 1860 Japanese diplomatic mission to America and the matter of exchange rates

1860 saw the first Japanese ambassadorial visit to America. The main purpose was to deliver The Treaty of Amity and Commerce ratifications to the US government. In addition, members of the Japanese delegation showed an active interest in various aspects of life in America and visited several important enterprises, including a shipyard and the U.S. Mint. A study related to the manner of monetary circulation was the responsibility of Oguri Kozukenosuke, who was one of the three leaders of the delegation. Thus, this interest in the work of the Mint was not merely a personal curiosity but was rather related to the serious problems with the adaptation of the exchange rates of the Japanese coins and the Mexican dollar, which at that time served as an international means of payment. In the period after the “opening” of Japan and the beginning of foreign trade, acute difficulties arose in carrying out exchange operations, which caused significant problems such as inflation and risky speculation. Therefore, an additional purpose of the Japanese group was to obtain information about the American monetary system and to assess the character of Japanese coins. The results obtained by this delegation provide a great deal of important objective data that will have great value for future historians and require careful analysis. The purpose of this paper is to create a basis for the study of this rich source of historical material. The article analyzes the basic data from this first Japanese diplomatic delegation to America, the importance of which has largely been ignored, primarily as a result of the issuing of the Man'en coin, which occurred before the embassy returned to Japan. Therefore, it is clear that the reforms of the monetary system in Japan were carried out without due regard for the information received by the ambassadorial group. An important reason for this was the increase in expenditures of the government, which was forced to replenish the treasury by means of massive minting of money, which in turn led to a decrease in the content of precious metals in Japanese coins. In general, the results of the broader study of the problem of adapting exchange rates after the “opening” of Japan are important for understanding the process of adaptation of monetary systems based on metallic money circulation and use of coins with different contents of precious metals to world trade.

«открытие» страны, Bakumatsu, gold koban, exchange rate in an era of metal currency, the Japanese Embassy to the United States in 1860, the “opening” of Japan, Oguri Kozukenosuke

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