 In May 1875, he became official interpreter for the Ministry of Finance.On the death of his mother in 1877, he returned to the Netherlands on six months leave, but was ordered to visit the Exposition Universelle and to assist in commercial negotiations in Berlin.He returned to Japan in October 1881, but was sent back to Germany to assist Inoue Kaoru in Berlin in negotiations with the German government over treaty revisions in October 1881.