O-yatoi gaikokujin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The o-yatoi gaikokujin (お雇い外国人 hired foreigners?) were foreign advisors hired by the Japanese government for their specialized knowledge to assist in the modernization of Japan at the end of the Bakufu and during the Meiji Era. The total number is uncertain, but is estimated to have reached more than 3,000 (with thousands more in the private sector).

The goal in hiring the foreign advisors was to obtain transfer of technology. The foreign advisors were highly paid; in 1874, they numbered 520 men, during which time their salaries came to ¥2.272 million, or 33.7 percent of the annual budget. Despite the value they provided in the modernization of Japan, the Japanese government did not consider it welcome for them to settle in Japan permanently, and after training Japanese replacements to take over their places, many found that their contracts (typically for three years) were not renewed, and chose to return to their respective countries.

Some foreign advisors supplemented their activities as government employees, with Christian missionary activities.

The system was officially terminated in 1899 when extraterritoriality came to an end in Japan. Nevertheless similar employment of foreigners persists in Japan, particularly within the national education system and professional baseball. Until 1899, more than 800 hired foreign experts continued to employed by the government, and many others privately.

Contents

  • Erwin von Bälz, physician [1] (in Japanese)
  • Leopold Müller
  • Johannes Ludwig Janson
  • Oskar Kellner, [2] (in Japanese)
  • Theodor Eduard Hoffmann
  • Ferdinand Adalbert Junker von Langegg

  • Hermann Ende, architect
  • Wilhelm Boeckmann, architect
  • Thomas James Waters
  • Edmund Morel, railway engineer
  • Josiah Conder [3] (in Japanese)

[4] (in Japanese) pictures

Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.