Alea OrtiguerraASH 4442Autumn 2014Autobiography of Fukuzawa Yukichi1. Why did Fukuzawa Yukichi decide to learn Western languages? At first Fukuzawa learned Dutch. After Commodore Perry arrived, many samurai were interested and asked to study artillery, but the best way to do so was through Gensho, or books published in Holland. Fukuzawa had learned Chinese quite easily and at his brother's behest he moved to Nagasaki to learn Dutch and study Gensho. In truth, Fukuzawa wanted to escape from Nakatsu. However, as he became more and more passionate about the language, he wanted to learn more and moved to Osaka to be under the tutelage of the Ogata School. Subsequently, Fukuzawa actively wanted to learn English. After years of studying Dutch, as other Western powers arrived, Fukuzawa was shocked when he could neither communicate with them nor read their language, giving him the impression that English must be the most widespread language. The first was to bring the young people together and give them the benefit of foreign books as well as education. Thanks to this belief, he purchased many foreign books, founded his own school of English education, and created the Japanese-English dictionary. His second aim was to open up the “closed” country and bring it closer to Western civilization. Fukuzawa believed that through Westernization Japan could become strong in both the arts of war and peace and become a world power as well as a symbol of progress in the world. He supported this through word of mouth, the way he ran his school, how he practiced new forms of public speaking, and the adoption of a simple and easy academic style for anyone to enjoy. When he traveled abroad, he studied Western nations and wrote a whole series of books on the culture, economy, business and political practices of the Western countries he visited, in order to spread Western civilization in his country.