06/18/2026
A samurai sailed from Japan to Mexico—and then all the way to Europe.
In 1613, Hasekura Tsunenaga, a samurai serving the powerful Japanese lord Date Masamune, set out on one of history's most remarkable diplomatic journeys.
Aboard the San Juan Bautista, he crossed the Pacific Ocean and arrived in Acapulco, New Spain (modern-day Mexico). He then traveled across Mexico to Mexico City before continuing to Europe.
The samurai delegation attracted attention wherever it went, and contemporary accounts describe the curiosity it generated among local residents.
Hasekura later met King Philip III of Spain and was received by Pope Paul V in Rome.
When he finally returned to Japan, the country's leaders were becoming increasingly restrictive toward Christianity and foreign contacts, and many of the mission's diplomatic goals were never achieved.
More than 400 years later, Hasekura's voyage remains one of the most extraordinary examples of global travel and cultural exchange in the early modern world.
