A Diplomat in Japan

...This was six days before the outbreak of the Namamugi Incident. Sato's career from then until his return to Japan on his first leave in February 1869 (January 1869) is detailed in his own memoirs, "A Diplomat in Japan" (1921). What is particularly noteworthy about Sato during this period is that, first, he became a pioneer diplomat who was fluent in Japanese; second, through his wide-ranging contacts with anti-shogunate forces, he obtained a wealth of information and helped the British envoy to Japan, especially Parkes, establish a policy toward Japan; and third, through his "British Policy" (originally unsigned and published in three parts in the Yokohama English-language weekly newspaper, "The Japan Times," in 1866), he argued that the Japanese political system was a coalition of feudal lords with the Emperor as head of state, and that the Shogun was merely the head of the coalition, thereby helping to undermine the authority of the Shogunate.

*Some of the terminology used in "A Diplomat in Japan" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…生麦事件勃発の6日前であった。それから第1回の賜暇で帰国する69年2月(明治2年1月)までの経歴は，サトー自身の回想録《一外交官の見た明治維新A Diplomat in Japan》(1921)にくわしい。この時期のサトーについて特筆すべきことは，第1に，日本語を自在に駆使する外交官の先駆者となったこと，第2に，倒幕勢力との幅広い接触を通して，豊富な情報を入手し，イギリスの駐日公使，とくにパークスの対日政策の樹立を助けたこと，第3に，《英国策論》(元来無署名で，1866年に横浜の英字週刊紙《The Japan Times》に3回に分けて掲載)を通して，日本の政治体制は天皇を元首とする諸侯連合であり，将軍は諸侯連合の首席にすぎないことを主張し，幕府の権威失墜に手を貸したことであろう。…

※「《A Diplomat in Japan》」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報