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*''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. He played a prominent role in the early 1880s (especially [[1884]]) in negotiating agreements and organizing arrangements related to the beginning of [[Japanese immigration to Hawaii]]. He was one of the first Americans to become a naturalized Japanese citizen, marrying a Japanese woman named Takechi Iki, and living in Japan from the 1880s until his death in 1924.
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> He played a prominent role in the early 1880s (especially [[1884]]) in negotiating agreements and organizing arrangements related to the beginning of [[Japanese immigration to Hawaii]]. He was one of the first Americans to become a naturalized Japanese citizen, marrying a Japanese woman named Takechi Iki, and living in Japan from the 1880s until his death in 1924.
A businessman descended from Benjamin Franklin<ref>[[Donald Keene]], ''Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852-1912'', Columbia University Press (2002), 791n7.</ref>, Irwin was born and raised in Pennsylvania, and first traveled to Japan in [[1866]], where he was stationed for a time in [[Yokohama]] as an agent of the Pacific Mail Co., later becoming involved with the [[Mitsui]] Trading Company (est. [[1876]]). In [[1867]], he was appointed Vice-Consul of the Kingdom of Hawaii in Japan, becoming Consul General in [[1881]], and Minister Plenipotentiary for the Bureau of Immigration in [[1882]] during the visit to Japan of Hawaiian official [[John Kapena]]. In [[1884]], Irwin became Hawaii's Resident Minister in Japan, and special agent of the Bureau of Immigration.
After marrying his wife and becoming a naturalized Japanese citizen, Irwin remained in Japan the rest of his life, until his death at 81. He is buried at [[Aoyama Cemetery]] in Tokyo.<ref>"[http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=48205530 Robert Walker Irwin (1844-1925)]," Find A Grave.com.</ref>
After marrying his wife and becoming a naturalized Japanese citizen, Irwin remained in Japan the rest of his life, until his death at 81. He is buried at [[Aoyama Cemetery]] in Tokyo.<ref>"[http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=48205530 Robert Walker Irwin (1844-1925)]," Find A Grave.com.</ref>