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7/10/2025, 6:04:44 AM
>Spoilsmen in a "Flowery Fairyland": The Development of the U.S. Legation in Japan, 1859-1906
>From its initial days as a place to fob off political supporters owed patronage, the American delegation was crippled by its completely amateur administration with no unified policy or knowledge of the country, and the lack of a professional American foreign service reflected badly when compared to the operations ran by Britain, France or Russia in Japan at the time. Despite an almost universal lack of cultural knowledge or language skills, and neglect and disinterest from Washington, the American delegation in Japan gradually and unevenly grew from a slapdash spoilsman dumping ground to a more professional diplomatic institution, although even into the 20th century relations and understanding of Japan were not what they could be because America consistently sent the personnel equivalent of loose change they found under the couch there and then promptly forgot about them
>From its initial days as a place to fob off political supporters owed patronage, the American delegation was crippled by its completely amateur administration with no unified policy or knowledge of the country, and the lack of a professional American foreign service reflected badly when compared to the operations ran by Britain, France or Russia in Japan at the time. Despite an almost universal lack of cultural knowledge or language skills, and neglect and disinterest from Washington, the American delegation in Japan gradually and unevenly grew from a slapdash spoilsman dumping ground to a more professional diplomatic institution, although even into the 20th century relations and understanding of Japan were not what they could be because America consistently sent the personnel equivalent of loose change they found under the couch there and then promptly forgot about them
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