In 1867, Kusakabe Tarō (1845–1870), a young samurai from Fukui, Japan, matriculated at Rutgers College in New Brunswick, New Jersey, as one of the first two Japanese students enrolled in an American college. Unfortunately, he died of tuberculosis in April 1870, only weeks before commencement. In the same year as Kusakabe’s death, his friend and tutor, William Elliot Griffis (1843–1928), Rutgers class of 1869, left for Japan to teach English and science, first in Kusakabe’s home province of Fukui and then in Tokyo. He stayed in Japan for three and a half years, and upon his return to the United States he published The Mikado’s Empire, which became an authoritative book on Japanese history, culture, and society at the time. Griffis became the leading interpreter of Japan before World War I and spent his life writing and lecturing about Japan and Asia.

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Kusakabe and Griffis are fondly remembered today as symbols of friendship between the United States and Japan. The New York Buddhist Church has played a key role in safeguarding this history by offering annual religious services for Kusakabe and his fellow Japanese students who died in the New York/New Jersey area in the early years. 

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The year 2026 marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of Griffis’ The Mikado’s Empire and the 100th since his final visit to Japan in 1926—1927, when he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun from the emperor of Japan. As we commemorate Griffis’ monumental achievements, we also wish to celebrate the efforts that have been made by the communities in Japan, New Jersey, and here in New York, to cherish and embrace the friendship between U.S. and Japan fostered by Kusakabe and Griffis.​