After returning from Europe at the news of the change of governments now known as the Meiji Restoration, he established the "Shōhō Kaishō", one of the first joint-stock companies in Japan, in Shizuoka Prefecture. Afterwards, he was invited by the Meiji government to become a member of the Ministry of Finance, where he became a driving force in the building of a modern Japan as head of the "Kaisei Kakari", or office of the Ministry of Finance in charge of reform.