Background
Tomoatsu Godai was born on 12 February 1836 in the domain of Satsuma in Kyushu. It is said that at the age of thirteen he made a globe of the world that was entirely of his own design.
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Tomoatsu Godai
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Education
In 1857 went to Nagasaki, where he studied navigation, gunnery, mathematics, and surveying under a Dutch officer.
Career
In 1854 he became an official in the domain administration. In 1859, on orders from his domain, he stowed away on a vessel used by the shogunate for foreign missions called the Chitose Marti, in this way making his way to Shanghai. There he purchased a German steamship and acted as its captain. From around this period, having gained a knowledge of the world situation, he advocated the opening of Japan to foreign trade and communication. He also began to take a deep interest in trade himself.
In 1863, when a British naval squadron attacked Kagoshima in Satsuma, Godai’s ship was seized, and he and Terajima Munenori were taken prisoner by'the British. He later managed to escape at Yokohama, but for a time the men of his domain believed that he had deserted to the enemy and he was forced to make his way in secret to Edo and Nagasaki. In 1865, on orders from his domain, he joined a group of fourteen students who were being sent to Europe, studying in England and later traveling about France, Holland, and Germany to observe the state of industrial development in these countries. What he saw at this time influenced him profoundly.
In 1868 he became a san’yo (junior councilor) and an official in charge of foreign affairs in the newly formed Meiji government. He later held various other posts in connection with foreign affairs and the regulation of trade, particularly in Osaka Prefecture, and also played an important part in matters pertaining to the Osaka Mint and Customshouse. In 1860 he was transferred to a post as an accounting official in Yokohama, but he resigned two months later and entered the world of business.
Achievements
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After returning to his domain in 1866, he urged the establishment of basic industries in the domain and also set up a spinning mill, the first in Japan, in fulfillment of a contract he had made while in Europe with a Frenchman named Montblanc. In these and other ways, he helped to promote the industrialization of Satsuma.
He demonstrated great talent in business affairs, setting up the Gold and Silver Assay Office in Osaka. In 1876 he established a salt manufacturing plant and also went into mining activities. In 1878 he established the Osaka Stock Exchange and Commercial Meeting Hall and later the Osaka Commercial Training School, in these and other ways contributing to the expansion and modernization of business activities in Osaka. But, as the scandal concerning the sale of government property in 1881 revealed, he maintained close contacts with the men of his own domain who were in power in the government and used these connections to his advantage in his business dealings.
