An Irish Engineer: The Extraordinary Achievements of Thomas J Waters and Family in Early Meiji Japan and Beyond

Abstract

When a young Irish engineer set out from England in 1864 to convert the world to his evangelical way of thinking, he found himself instead at the forefront of a remarkable revolution. At a time when industry and transport driven by steam power had already transformed the western world, and engineers were looking elsewhere for employment, Thomas James Waters was to make a name for himself in what was known as the Far East, in a country which had been, until the 1850s, essentially closed to the Western world and Western progress. That country was Japan, and the revolution was the Meiji Restoration. Although this is the story of an individual - or more accurately several individuals, as other members of Tom Waters' family play an important part - it reflects the story of many. It mirrors a movement of young men from the West who made their way to Japan to introduce mechanisation and Western-style buildings, and ultimately to instruct the Japanese in, not only engineering and architectural skills, but also in medicine, agriculture, economics, law, art and education. By 1874, over 500 foreign experts were employed by the Japanese Government on one- or two-year contracts, with many more employed privately. This was part of a drive, first of all by various principalities, and then by a centralised government, which aimed at achieving equal status with the West, thus safeguarding Japan's sovereignty and independence.