Background
Teikichi Tanaka was born in 1857.
鼎吉 田中
Teikichi Tanaka was born in 1857.
He followed his clan lord, Shigeyoshi Kikkawa, to the United States and while there studied at an American institution.
Upon his return, he first joined the Imperial Navy, then became principal of the Tokyo School of Mails and Telegraphs, and when the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) broke out he was made a director of the Mail Service of the Second Forces, and then director of the Japanese Government's Mail Bureau at Formosa.
Giving up government service he began interesting himself in the colonization problems of his country and led an exploratory expedition to South America. It was mainly on account of his pioneering efforts that the Morioka Company sent its first emigrants to Peru, and it was his efforts again that decided the Toyo Steamship Company to operate a Regular route to South America.