During a trip to Nagasaki, Ōkuma met a Dutch missionary named Guido Verbeck, who taught him the English language and provided him with copies of the New Testament and the American Declaration of Independence.[2] These works are often said[who?] to have affected his political thinking profoundly,[citation needed] and encouraged him to support efforts to abolish the existing feudal system and work toward the establishment of a constitutional government.
Ōkuma frequently traveled between Nagasaki and Kyoto in the following years and became active in the Meiji Restoration. In 1867, together with Soejima Taneomi, he planned to recommend resignation to the Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu.[1] Leaving Saga Domain without permission, they went to Kyoto, where the Shogun then resided.[3] However, Ōkuma and his companions were arrested and sent back to Saga. They were subsequently sentenced to one month imprisonment.
Meiji period political life
Following the Boshin War of the Meiji Restoration in 1868, Okuma was placed in charge of foreign affairs for the new Meiji government. At this time, he negotiated with British diplomat, Sir Harry Smith Parkes on the ban of Christianity and insisted on maintaining the government's persecution on Catholics in Nagasaki.[citation needed]
In 1873, the Japanese government removed the ban on Christianity.
He was soon given an additional post as head of Japan's monetary reform program. He made use of his close contacts with Inoue Kaoru to secure a positions in the central government in Tokyo. He was elected to the first Diet of Japan in 1870 and soon became Minister of Finance, in which capacity he instituted property and taxation reforms that aided Japan's early industrial development.[4](265 words)
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