Aug 23

Who was the first U.S. president to visit Japan?

Article/Journalism, Writers Eiichi Shibusawa, Emperor Meiji, Meiji, Shibusawa, Tom Baker, Ulysses Grant Comments Off on Who was the first U.S. president to visit Japan?

Posted by Tom Baker (Chiba, 1989-91)

U.S. President Joe Biden is set to visit Hiroshima next spring, when Japan hosts the Group of Seven summit. All of Biden’s recent predecessors have also visited Japan at some point.

Amazingly, the first presidential visit happened way back in 1879, when Ulysses Grant spent the summer in Japan shortly after leaving office. He met an array of Japanese historical figures, including Eiichi Shibusawa and Emperor Meiji.

I recently spent a day exploring Tokyo in Grant’s footsteps. Here’s what I found.