Driven by two imperatives - the need to identify, classify and assess western technology and culture as well as advance a dialogue for reviewing the so-called 'unequal treaties' - the new Meiji government of 1868 soon despatched a top-level ministerial team to the west which arrived first in the United States in January 1872. In all, they spent 205 days in America, 122 days in Britain and two months in France, along with visits to other countries including Belgium, Germany, Russia, Sweden and Italy. In this volume, drawing on the papers given at the triennial conference of the European Association of Japanese Studies, held in Budapest in August 1997 (the year also marking the 125th anniversary of Iwakura's arrival) Ian Nish has assembled a valuable new overview of the mission as a whole, with the significance and impact of the visit to each country being separately assessed. A supplement to the book looks at several 'post-Iwakura' topics, including a review of the mission's chief chronicler, Kume Kunitake.