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The o-yatoi gaikokujin or oyatoi gaikokujin (お雇い外国人 - hired foreigners, foreign employees) were foreign specialists, engineers, teachers, mercenaries and more, hired to assist in the modernization of Japan. They were summoned, at the end of the Bakufu and during the Meiji Era, reaching over 3000 in all (with thousands more in the private sector) as of 1868. Their goal was to transfer technology and teach Japanese replacements to take over their places. Some, in addition to being government employees, were also missionaries. They were highly valued; in 1874 the oyatoi numbered 520, during which time their salaries came to 2.272 million yen, or 33.7 percent of the annual budget. Despite their value, they were not allowed to stay in Japan permanently, and many, finding the nation unwelcoming, chose to leave at the end of a one or two year contact. The oyatoi system was terminated in 1899, during which time over 800 hired experts were employed by the government, and many others privately.
Notable o-yatoi gaikokujin
- William Griffis (1843-1928), American clergymen, author. Taught in Japan 1870-1874.
- Heinrich Edmund Naumann, geologist. Arrived in August 1875 at the age of 21. Teaching in the University of Tokyo, he became the first professor of geology in Japan. His achievements include, among others, the first tectonic map of the country.
- Thomas Corwin Mendenhall, American physicist.
- Edward S. Morse, zoologist.
- Charles Otis Whitman, zoologist, successor of Edward S. Morse.
- Guido F.Verbeck
- Gustave Emille Boissonade
- Herman Roesler
- Gottfried Wagener
- Henry Dyer
- Ernest Fenollosa, educator
- Sir James Alfred Ewing, Scottish physicist and engineer who founded Japanese seismology.
- Jules Brunet, French artillery officer.
- Léonce Verny, French constructor of the Yokosuka arsenal.
- Basil Hall Chamberlain - Japanologist and Professor of Japanese, Tokyo Imperial University
See also
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