Komura on Christian ed

In 1875, Komura was sent by the Ministry of Education to study abroad in the United States. He spent three years at Harvard Law School and then worked in a New York law firm for another two, acquiring a practical legal education. This Japanese diplomat who is emblematic of the Meiji period was a lifelong self-styled advocate of the “Expel the Barbarians” movement, which supported ridding the country of any foreign presence. During Komura’s years overseas, his pride as a Japanese could sometimes be excessive.

For example, in Boston, he met Alpheus Hardy, a man friendly to Japanese who was of great assistance to Niijima Jo (also known as Joseph Hardy Neesima, the founder of Dōshisha University) during that young man’s American sojourn. “Niijima tells me he’s founded a school in Kyoto,” Hardy once commented. “I pray that his plan to educate Japanese according to Christian principles will be a success."

Komura shot back, “Prayer will do no good. A plan like that will never succeed in Japan." This response was an expression of his basically antiforeigner stance.

Hardy asked in surprise what could keep Christian-style education from succeeding in Japan. The little fellow (Komura was short even for a Japanese) replied,

“Japanese culture and history will interfere. You Americans think of Japan the same way you do the Philippines and Hawaii. In places like that, Christian evangelization may penetrate deeply, but Japan has a strong civilization of its own, one that stands apart from Christian civilization and has its own traditions. We Japanese will learn Western technology, but we will never easily give in to the Christian culture attached to it. That’s why Niijima’s enterprise will not have the success you are hoping for."