From Samurai into Engineers marks the 150th anniversary of the graduation of MIT’s first Japanese student, Eiichirō Honma (SB 1874), and highlights the experiences of Honma and other Japanese students at MIT who followed in his footsteps. It demonstrates how these students, and by extension MIT, contributed to Japan’s dramatic transformation into an industrial power at the turn of the nineteenth century and, in turn, how these students also began transforming MIT into a global institution within the first decades of its inception.
The heart of the exhibit consists of historical documents from the MIT Libraries Distinctive Collections that relate to Honma and many other Japanese students—including letters, dairies, and even problem sets—that together offer deep and fascinating insights not only into their lives at MIT but also to the enduring legacies of their education at the Institute.
Eiichirō Honma (SB 1874) Photograph © 2024 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Bridge diagram from Honma’s thesis