| Japan: Capstone to a Career |
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A Great Mission
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Japan is a Mystery
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Betrayal and Friendship
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Meeting the Emperor & Home
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Capron Statue in Sapporo
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"On this wild coast, in this almost unpeopled Island thus remote, I stand solitary and alone,
a pioneer, as it were, upon the outpost of civilization…” Horace Capron Japan Journal. p. 89 |
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Maps of Japan and Hokkaido (click to enlarge)
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In 1871 at the age of 67, Horace Capron left the Department of Agriculture and accepted an invitation from the Government of Japan to lead a delegation to help develop its northern province of Hokkaido.
The Japanese Government recognized his expertise in farming and mineral development. They considered it a coup to have Capron accept the position.
The Japanese government paid him $10,000 plus expenses to undertake the mission.
Family pressures may also have been a factor. His youngest son, Osmond, had been blinded when rescuing people from a hotel fire – and now depended on his father for support.
In Japan Horace Capron experienced extraordinary beauty, earthquakes, beheadings, betrayal, new lands and new peoples. He met the Emperor-and the Hokkaido's soon-to-be-displaced native population. The experience was the capstone of his career—and an amazing adventure
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