（6）The Introduction of Western Civilization and the Dispatch of Students Abroad

Two factors which played particularly important roles in the introduction of Western civilization to Japan were the appotntment of foreign teachers to Japanese schools and the sending of Japanese students overseas for study and research. The necessity for foreign study in order to assimilate Western civilization as rapidly as possible was recognized at an early date. As the idea of Civilization and Enlightenment gained ground, the new Meiji government took an ever more positive view of overseas inspection tours and foreign schooling, and the traffic between Japan and the West became considerable.

The sending of students abroad had already started by the end of the Edo period. Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835-1901) accompanied the Japanese mission to the United States in 1860 and to Europe in 1862, though he did not travel as a student. In 1862, however, the Shogunate sent fifteen students including Nishi Amane and Tsuda Mamichi to the Netherlands on the first government-approved foreign study program. Thereafter six students were sent to Russia in 1865 and twelve, under the directorship of Nakamura Masanao and Kawaji Taro, went to England in 1866. The fourth and fifth parties were sent to France in 1867. Various fiefs also sent students abroad during the final years of the Shogunate. For example, Choshu sent Ito Hirobumi and Yamao Yozo to England and Satsuma sent Mori Arinori and others to England and the United States. After the Meiji Restoration, those wishing to go abroad for study increased considerably. The government first made it a practice to provide persons leaving the country with travel permits. Soon thereafter it instituted the practice of investigating all travelers bound for overseas, and on February 11, 1871, the Order concerning Study Abroad (Kaigai Ryugaku Kisoku) was proclaimed by the Grand Council. This Order made the University responsible for the program of sending students abroad.

In addition to numerous students sent abroad from the Southern and Eastern Colleges of the University, in 1871 a group of five young girls including Tsuda Umeko traveled to study in the United States. Their departure received considerable attention.