Eugene Miller Van Reed

politician

Eugene Miller Van Reed was an American of Dutch descent who traveled to Japan in 1866 as a representative of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Although he failed to establish formal relations between Hawaii and Japan, he became involved in trade and secured permission from the Tokugawa shogunate for Japanese emigration to Hawaii. Despite the later abolition of these agreements by the Meiji government and accusations of engaging in human trafficking, Van Reed managed to send the first group of Japanese laborers to Hawaii in 1868.