A Japanese Diplomat Comes to Seattle, and Likes What He Sees
Chancellor M. Odagiri toured Puget Sound to choose a consulate site, praised Seattle's buildings and Lake Washington, and predicted Japan would beat China in the war then under way.
The story, cleaned up
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Mr. M. Odagiri, chancellor of the imperial consulate of Japan at San Francisco, is at the Rainier hotel. His mission is to locate a Japanese consulate on Puget Sound, and he is visiting all the ports, studying their commerce and probable trade with Japan. Seattle is admitted to have the largest Japanese population of any city in the Northwest and, as it can be shown that Seattle has the largest trade with Japan, the consulate will probably be located here. The consul would be a salaried official, a Japanese, devoting his whole time to the duties of the office. Mr. Odagiri will attend the meeting of the Chamber of Commerce this afternoon and will go to Port Townsend tomorrow.
Mr. Odagiri was seen at the Rainier hotel last evening by a Post-Intelligencer reporter and interviewed concerning his trip to the Sound and the war between China and Japan. He said:
"I have come here by order of the Japanese government to look over the Sound country and report upon the place most advantageous for a consulate. I have been in Tacoma, made my investigation, and now am doing likewise in this city. I am surprised at what I have seen today. I had no idea that such a large, magnificently located and progressive city bore the name of Seattle. The buildings are such as would call forth admiration and inspire confidence in the eyes of any visitor. I have been to Lake Washington and have not yet recovered from the feelings aroused. Never in my life have I seen such a beautiful sheet of water and, taken in connection with the surrounding scenery, it makes me think of places in my own country. Seattle has a large number of Japanese residents, and one of the special objects of the proposed consulate is to look after the interests of our people. Commerce is another point to be taken into consideration, because Japan is a progressive country and desires to take part in the world's commerce. After I have visited Port Townsend I shall come back to Seattle, because I want to see more of the city and the people. My report will be made up as soon as possible after I return to San Francisco and then forwarded to the government at Japan. If the diet decides to establish a consulate and makes the required appropriation to carry it on, I expect that it will be established next April. The officials will be a consul and secretary, both of whom are under pay by the home government."
In speaking of the China-Japan war, he said:
"I do not hesitate to say that I think we will win from China. Our army is far better organized, and is well equipped in every detail. Any one who understands the system of the German army knows that of the Japanese."
“Never in my life have I seen such a beautiful sheet of water and, taken in connection with the surrounding scenery, it makes me think of places in my own country.”
Seattle's Pacific Rim identity was already being courted in 1894, with a Japanese diplomat sizing up the city's harbor, population and trade. The consulate question shows how immigration and commerce have long been woven into Seattle's civic self-image—and how global conflicts arrived here with the diplomats.
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