Thomas James Waters (1842-1898) and the Mint at Osaka

Abstract

One of the first and most important initiatives of the incoming Meiji Government in 1868 was the building of a Mint at Osaka. This was necessary for the production of a new uniform coinage of high quality. The important role played by Irishman Thomas James Waters in the planning and construction of the Osaka Mint is discussed here, with speculation, too, about Waters' connection with the Hong Kong Mint, built several years earlier. Attention is also drawn to other links between the Mint at Hong Kong and the Mint at Osaka. Early in 1869 Waters was put in sole charge of the Osaka project. Making use of a selection of materials purchased from the by then obsolete Mint in Hong Kong, he took on the complex task of designing and supervising the construction of the new coin-making facility, along with adjacent western-style buildings. Faced with multiple setbacks, he had overseen the completion of most of the work by late 1870, an extraordinary accomplishment for someone so young, and with limited experience in such a vast and difficult project. His successful completion of the Mint facility would establish Waters as a man of integrity, imagination and ability, and he and his two brothers would go on to make a significant contribution to the further Westernisation of Japan, particularly in and around Tokyo, during a period now known as the Waters era.