INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH IN HUMANITIES KYOTO UNIVERSITYDATA:
L' Exposition de Paris de 1889. [606. 7E-464]
Go back 100 years earlier, to 1867. The Paris World's Fair, considered one of the most splendid in the history of World's Fairs, is visited by the entourage of Ambassador to Europe Tokugawa [Settoku]. The ambassador is captivated by the autograph, a device similar to today's facsimile. Immediately recognizing the merit of this "machine that uses electrical means to copy drawings" and can transmit and receive complex Japanese script, he immediately purchases it and has it sent to Japan. Two Japanese men are sent to Switzerland for training in electronic technology. However the machine that caused the sensation is damaged in the upheaval of the end of the Tokugawa military government, and its fate is never learned.