He was employed as a translator for the magistrate of foreign affairs and went to the United States of America in 1867 with Yukichi FUKUZAWA as an attendant for the bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun).
外国奉行の通訳として採用され、1867年（慶応3年）には福澤諭吉らと幕府随員としてアメリカ合衆国へ洋行。