[7] In 1877, United States President Ulysses S. Grant embarked on a highly successful world tour, during which he was greeted at every port of call as the hero of the recently concluded Civil War.

A contemporary account described the arrival thus: A fleet of steamers and yachts met the City of Tokio down the bay, while guns boomed until the harbor was cloudy with smoke, bells rang, and factory whistles tooted and screamed.

A great procession was awaiting him, and escorted him, through streets draped with bunting and bright with thousands of lights and bonfires, to the Palace Hotel, where a chorus of five hundred voices sang an ode of greeting.

[8] Cheered by crowds at every station, Grant eventually reached Philadelphia, his original point of departure two and half years earlier, on December 12, 1879.

[10] In 1884, the Kingdom of Hawaii offered to subsidize the transport of Japanese laborers to its territory, and advertised a set of conditions under which the migrants would be employed on its sugar plantations.

In the early hours of 24 June 1885, in conditions of poor visibility, City of Tokio was grounded on rocks at the entrance to Tokyo Bay.