In the summer of 1988 I happened to discover the existence of an address-book entitled “Japanese in Boston : 1871-1876” -kept in the rare book section of the Boston Public Library. Apparently the notebook was kept by Charles Knapp Dillaway, one time Principal of Boston Latin School. Seventy-eight Japanese names are listed, of which four are duplicates due to confusion of family and given names. Of the 74 names, 65 have been so far identified. Actually we find such “big” names as : Dan Takuma, Izawa Shuji, Kaneko Kentaro, Komura Jutaro, Megata Tanetaro, Okabe Nagamoto, Tomita Tetsunosuke, and Yamakawa Kenjiro. Others are less wellknown, but still identifiable. Usually the name is accompanied by his address, together with other information such as his dates of arrival and departure, present whereabouts, and names of his friends. Thus the notebook, herewith textualized for the first time by courtesy of the Trustees or the Boston Public Library, may offer useful information for historians who are interested in the early Japanese who went to Boston and other American cities for study or inspection-in search of new knowledge and technology for new Japan.

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Some Americans such as Samuel Robbins Brown, Birdsey G. Northrop, and John Hopkins Twichell in late 19^th century New England had early contacts with both Chinese and Japanese students. These discoveries led the author to consider the necessity of further pursuing study into (1) the activities of missionaries and intellectuals who had contacts with both Japanese and Chinese students aspiring to learn from the west, and (2) the contacts and relationships between Japanese and Chinese overseas students.
This paper firstly clarifies the background and footsteps regarding relationships between Americans and Japanese/Chinese overseas students, then examines whether Japanese and Chinese students themselves built up interactions and friendships through their network of American acquaintances, schools and local communities, and finally makes comparisons from family backgrounds to careers of 21 Japanese and 21 Chinese students studying at Yale University in the period 1870–1887.
The students of these two countries were studied because their similar experiences as overseas students may provide important insights to why Japan and China took different paths in their modernization, a topic the author has had continuous academic interest in. This paper also intends, as the first step in a comparative study of modernization processes in Japan and China, to find out whether Japanese and Chinese students studying at Yale University in the same period set off from similar starting points.
In conclusion, the ground was set for communication between Japanese and Chinese students in second-half 19^th century New England, but deeper interaction and solidarity did not seem to have grown between them. Moreover, although China fell far behind Japan in modernization, both countries had overseas students who had the same western training under the same environment at the start.

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