Changes

*''Died: 1925''

*''Died: 1925''

Robert Walker Irwin was a prominent figure in relations between Japan, the United States, and [[Hawaii]] in the 1880s, serving for a time as acting Hawaiian Consul in Japan.<ref>[[Kalakaua|David Kalakaua]], in a letter to John Owen Dominis, governor of Oahu, May 12 1881, as reproduced in Richard Greer (ed.), "The Royal Tourist - Kalakaua's Letters Home from Tokio to London," ''Hawaiian Journal of History'' 5 (1971), 82.</ref>, succeeding [[Harlan P. Lillebridge]] in that position.<ref>Ralph Kuykendall, ''The Hawaiian Kingdom 1874 - 1893: The Kalakaua Dynasty'', University of Hawaii Press (1967), 155.</ref> A businessman involved with the [[Mitsui]] Trading Company, he was one of the first Americans to obtain Japanese citizenship, and married a Japanese woman named Takechi Iki. In 1885, he played a prominent role in negotiating agreements related to the beginning of [[Japanese immigration to Hawaii]].

Robert Walker Irwin was a prominent figure in relations between Japan, the United States, and [[Hawaii]] in the 1880s, serving for a time as acting Hawaiian Consul in Japan.<ref>[[Kalakaua|David Kalakaua]], in a letter to John Owen Dominis, governor of Oahu, May 12 1881, as reproduced in Richard Greer (ed.), "The Royal Tourist - Kalakaua's Letters Home from Tokio to London," ''Hawaiian Journal of History'' 5 (1971), 82.</ref>, succeeding [[Harlan P. Lillebridge]] in that position.<ref>Ralph Kuykendall, ''The Hawaiian Kingdom 1874 - 1893: The Kalakaua Dynasty'', University of Hawaii Press (1967), 155.</ref> A businessman descended from Benjamin Franklin<ref>[[Donald Keene]], ''Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852-1912'', Columbia University Press (2002), 791n7.</ref> and involved with the [[Mitsui]] Trading Company, he was one of the first Americans to obtain Japanese citizenship, and married a Japanese woman named Takechi Iki. In 1885, he played a prominent role in negotiating agreements related to the beginning of [[Japanese immigration to Hawaii]].

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