Samurai in New York: the First Japanese Delegation, 1860 August 29, 2010

'Samurai in New York' invites visitors to return to the New York of 150 years ago and to share the city's excitement over the visit of a delegation of more than 70 samurai from Japan--the first Japanese to leave the closed island nation in over 200 years. The brash young city seized the opportunity to promote itself as the "Edo (modern day Tokyo) of the West" with a two-week whirlwind of parades and balls and moment-to-moment newspaper coverage of the delegation's visit. Extremely rare 19th-century photographs and newspaper engravings document the festivities, and a unique group of objects, lent by Japanese institutions, both record and recall the experience from the Japanese viewpoint. Other photographs, works of art, decorative and costume items reveal the cross-cultural influences that the visit inspired.