Hotel in Berlin. From "Tokumei Zenken Taishi Beio Kairan Jikki"

Opera House in Berlin. From "Tokumei Zenken Taishi Beio Kairan Jikki"

Major figures of the Iwakura Mission. From "Mezurashii Shashin"

In December 1871 (lunar November, Meiji 4), the Iwakura Mission departed Japan, led by IWAKURA Tomomi serving as ambassador plenipotentiary, and including KIDO Takayoshi, OKUBO Toshimichi, ITO Hirobumi, et al., as deputy ambassadors (fukushi). The mission lasted approximately two years, making a circuit of the United States, Britain, France, Eastern Europe, and Russia, etc. The purpose was to make preparations for treaty revisions and to conduct an investigation of various countries' institutions and cultures.

The March 1873 (Meiji 6) entry of ITO Hirobumi's handwritten diary of his foreign journey records his stay in Prussia, with detailed memos about the parliamentary and electaural systems in that country.