Fukuzawa Yukichi

Fukuzawa Yukichi was a Japanese author, educator, and publisher who was probably the most influential man outside government service in the Japan of the Meiji Restoration (1868), following the overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate. He led the struggle to introduce Western ideas in order to increase, as he said, "the independence and self-respect of the Japanese people." He translated a wide range of Western works and adapted them to Japanese needs, inventing a colorful prose style close to the vernacular. He also wrote original books and essays that have been regarded as some of the most influential in modern Japanese history. He founded Keio University, the first private institution of higher learning in Japan, and the newspaper Jiji-Shinpō, which played a key role in spreading political and social awareness among the Japanese public. He also established the Institute for Study of Infectious Diseases, which contributed to the advancement of medical science in Japan. He was an advocate for women's rights, civil rights, and democracy. He was critical of the feudal system and the blind imitation of Western civilization. He urged Japan to pursue a path of independent and rational development that suited its own history and culture. He is widely respected as one of the founding fathers of modern Japan and appears on the current 10,000-Japanese yen banknote.