Honma and the Boston Japanese Students' Club

Eiichiro Honma's Diary

The Honma papers also include Honma’s diary, dated March 31 through April 21, 1870. Corresponding to the period between Honma’s studies at Highland and MIT, the diary recorded the holiday journey of Honma and two other Japanese students (Yoshikazu Inoue and Masanosuke Yamada) to New York City, where they visited many of the city’s prominent tourist destinations.

Eiichiro Honma Diary, 1870

Diary of Eiichiro Honma, 1870

Student Insight:
Honma and the others wasted no time upon their arrival in the city, as they go out to the Wallack’s Theatre with the Prices a couple hours after arriving to see the play “Lost at Sea.” Honma enjoyed the play, complimenting its scenery as “perfectly elegant and wonderful.” Over the next couple days, Honma writes that he visited many of New York’s landmarks, such as the Grand Opera House, Central Park, Madison Square, Trinity Church, and the New York Stock Exchange. Though many of Honma’s outings in New York were fun, there is still a sense of purpose to learn for Japan’s sake. This is shown by the words of a clergyman they meet in Trinity Church: “We entered a Dr.’s room, where Mr. P spoke with him for a while. Dr. expressed his desire that we shall improve all the time we are in the country. And that we shall profit by getting many western ideas.”
-- Kailas B. Kahler, SB 2024, MEng 2025                                                                                                                                                                          
Constitution and bylaws of the Boston Japanese Students' Club

Constitution and bylaws of the Boston Japanese Students' Club

Boston Japanese Student's Club

Another document in the Honma papers, entitled “Constitution and By-Laws of The Boston Japanese Student's Club” shows us how Honma and his fellow Japanese students developed their sense of shared purpose during their studies in Massachusetts. While it is undated, the six-page document was likely to have been written while Honma was a student at MIT and he was seemingly one of the club’s organizers. The Honma papers include two letters sent to Honma from other Japanese students, in which they included their payment of the club’s membership fees. The document is a striking product of these students’ early practice in democratic associational life. Its “Preamble” declares:

“We, as students in America, having the same object in view, to do our part, however insignificant, in the advancement of our Country, and are destined for the same field of labors in order that our efforts shall be most effective, we deem unity and harmony of our future actions a necessary condition. For the attainment of this condition by promoting familiarity and sympathy with one another, we form ourselves into a society, and establish for its regulation, this Constitution and these By-Laws.”