Krupp had become famous, not least for providing heavy guns to the German army in recent wars. The
mission stayed one night in Essen, one party in Krupp’s guest house, the rest in a hotel. Kume was not
impressed by the city, which seemed not to be well developed, but he was impressed by the large factories,
not overlooking the fact that there were factory guards present, a safety measure usual for factories of this
size, as he was informed. After visiting Krupp’s new mansion, which was not yet finished, but impressed
them (as it still does today) by its mere size, the mission took the night express to Berlin. They arrived there
next morning, on Sunday, 9 March 1873 and stayed on until 28 March, leaving for St Petersburg, while
Okubo departed, as planned, for Japan via Frankfurt.