Robert Walker Irwin
Robert Walker Irwin (January 4, 1844 – January 5, 1925) was a Danish-born American businessman who served as Hawaii’s Minister to Japan. His biggest achievement was negotiating the 1886 immigration treaty between Hawaii and Japan, which led to many Japanese workers moving to Hawaii.
He was born in Copenhagen. His father, William W. Irwin, was a former mayor of Pittsburgh and a U.S. Representative. His mother, Sophia Arabella Bache, came from a family that included Benjamin Franklin.
In 1866, at age 22, Irwin went to Japan to run the Yokohama office for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. The company started the first regular monthly mail service between San Francisco and Hong Kong via Yokohama in 1867.
In 1880 Irwin became Kingdom of Hawaii’s Consul-General in Japan. In 1881, Hawaii’s King Kalakaua visited Japan and appointed Irwin as Hawaii’s Minister to Japan. Irwin helped bring the first group of Japanese laborers to Hawaii in February 1885, followed by another group in June 1885.
After negotiations with the Japanese government, Hawaii and Japan signed the immigration treaty on January 28, 1886. The labor program continued until 1894, bringing about 29,339 Japanese workers to Hawaii. Later immigration moved from government programs to private companies. By 1900 Hawaii’s population was about 154,000, with Japanese people and their descendants making up over 61,000.
Irwin built strong business and political ties in Japan. He befriended Japanese officials like Finance Minister Masuda Takashi and Count Inoue Kaoru, who helped start Mitsui Bussan in 1876, with Irwin as a founder. He also helped start the Taiwan Sugar Company in 1900. Both became part of the Mitsui group as Japan modernized. Irwin stayed involved with Taiwan Sugar Company until 1916.
His family included his older half-brother John Irwin, a naval officer, and his sister Agnes Irwin, an educator. He married Takechi Iki on March 15, 1882—the first legal marriage between an American and a Japanese citizen—arranged by Inoue Kaoru. They had six children. Their eldest daughter, Bella, started the Irwin Gakuen School in Tokyo; another daughter, Marian Irwin Osterhout, was a plant scientist.
In 1891 Irwin bought a summer home in Ikaho, which is now a Historic Place and open as a small museum about the Irwin family and Japanese emigration to Hawaii.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 11:58 (CET).