History has many interesting tales to tell. One of them is the story of Robert Walker Irwin, the son William Wallace Irwin, of a one-time Pennsylvania representative to the US Congress, and Sophia Arabella Bache of Philadelphia, a fourth direct descendant of Benjamin Franklin. But while his ancestor and the rest of his family made Philadelphia their capital, Robert W. traveled west to Hawai'i and Japan; he went to Yokohama in 1866 to open up a Pacific Mail Steamship service.
By 1872 Robert Irwin had become acquainted with Takashi Masuda, an official in Japan's Ministry of Finance, and Kaoru Inoue, a rising star among to-be-leaders of Japan's Meiji era modernization and expansion. Irwin and Inoue became close friends, and when Inoue became Foreign Minister, Irwin arranged a trip for Inoue, his wife and daughter, as well as about twenty assistants and students, to the United States in 1876. Irwin served as Inoue's guide during the trip, and they arrived in Philadelphia in August, during the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition.
After returning to Japan, Inoue undertook the task of searching out and finding a proper Japanese wife for Irwin. He found Iki Takechi, whose ancestry included both samurai and merchants. This was the first American-Japanese marriage to be based on thorough legal arrangements between the United States and Japan, and it took more than a year before the final legal papers were signed on March 15, 1882.
In the mid-1880's, Robert Irwin worked with the Hawai'ian government to assist with the importation of Japanese workers as contract laborers for the sugar plantations. In the process of this, he became the principal architect of Japanese immigration to Hawai'i. Under Irwin's system, 23,071 Japanese men, 5,487 women, and 133 children had come to Hawai'i by 1894. He was awarded both the Order of the Rising Sun and the Order of the Sacred Treasure by the Japanese government for his services to Japan.
Robert and Iki Irwin had six children, all of whom were educated in the United States as well as Japan. The eldest, Sophia Arabella, established the Gyokusei School for nursery school teachers and an adjoining kindergarten in Tokyo in 1917. She expanded the school in 1947 with funds inherited from her father, and it continues today as the Irwin School.
Interested in learning more about Ben Franklin's descendants in Japan, as well as other unique relationships between Philly and Japan? Phila-Nipponica: An Historic Guide to Philadelphia & Japan, a bi-lingual collection of articles on the Japan-Philly connection published by the JASGP, is available for purchase in our online store!
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