 Before his father left Japan, Alexander was engaged by the British representative Harry Parkes as a student interpreter because of his fluency in Japanese.Alexander assisted British consul Edward St. John Neale during the Anglo-Satsuma War and was based on the flagship during the conflict.He later accompanied the European task force during the Bombardment of Shimonoseki and the negotiations for opening the port of Hyogo to foreign settlement and trade in 1864.