History of the Japanese at Harvard (Q74567619)
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news article, Harvard Gazette
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | History of the Japanese at Harvard |
news article, Harvard Gazette |
Statements
History of the Japanese at Harvard (English)
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Ken Gewertz
26 February 2004
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This was also the year that the first two Japanese students arrived at Harvard. Both enrolled in the Law School, earning degrees in 1874. One of them, Inouye Yoshikazu, aspired to a military career, hoping to emulate his idol, Napoleon. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., the future Supreme Court justice, tutored him along with another Japanese student, Kaneko Kentaro, who later helped draft the Japanese constitution in 1889. But after earning his law degree, Yoshikazu found it very difficult to readjust to life in Japan and he committed suicide at the age of 26.Pharr, CalderSusan Pharr (left) talks about ‘Harvard’s Japan Encounter: From Perry to Pearl Harbor.’ Research assistant Mari Calder ’02 joins in the presentation. (Staff photo Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard News Office)But Yoshikazu’s fate was the exception among early Japanese students at Harvard. His Law School classmate Megata Tanetaro became head of taxation in Japan’s finance ministry. (English)
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“At a time when Jewish and African-American students were excluded from finals clubs, Japanese students were accepted into these and other exclusive societies,” said Calder.Among these students was Matsukata Otohiko ’06, known by his classmates as “Oto,” who was a member of the Delphic Club along with Franklin Delano Roosevelt ’04. Another Japanese student was manager of the baseball team on which JFK’s father, Joseph P. Kennedy, played, and was a fellow member with Kennedy of the “H-Men.” (English)
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In 1919, Yamamoto Isoroku, who later planned the attack on Pearl Harbor, came to Harvard to study English. He received only a C+ in the course but spent his free time to advantage by hitchhiking to Texas, where, by some accounts, he gathered information on America’s oil industry. (English)