[1] He enrolled at a number of different universities in Russia,[2] where he studied various subjects including languages, medicine, physics and the arts.

In 1864, while living in Florence, he met the Russian revolutionaries Alexander Herzen and Mikhail Bakunin.

[1] There he gave lectures about Japan at the University of Geneva and published a journal about East Asia, together with François Turrettini.

[5] He also collaborated with Elisée Reclus on his Nouvelle Géographie universelle,[1] providing geographical information about Japan and Russia.

[1] During this period, he wrote numerous works on sociology, geography and anarchist political theory.