This list contains notable Europeans and Americans who visited Japan before the Meiji Restoration. The name of each individual is followed by the year of the first visit, the country of origin, and a brief explanation.
16th century
Two Portuguese traders, António da Mota and Francisco Zeimoto (possibly a third named António Peixoto), land on the island of Tanegashima in 1543. They are the first documented Europeans to set foot in Japan. Fernão Mendes Pinto (1543, Portugal) Visited Japan and claimed to have introduced guns to the Japanese, though the account is almost certainly untrue. Francis Xavier (1549, Spain (on Portuguese mission) The first Roman Catholic missionary who brought Christianity to Japan. Cosme de Torres (1549, Spain) A Spanish Jesuit (on Portuguese mission) who successfully converted Ōmura Sumitada to Christianity – the first Christian daimyō. Luis de Almeida (1552, Portugal) A Portuguese Jesuit who established the first western hospital in Japan and negotiated the opening of the port of Yokoseura to Portuguese traders. Gaspar Vilela (1556, Portugal) A Portuguese Jesuit who, in a departure from Xavier's methods, learned the Japanese language and talked directly with daimyos, opening the center of Japan to the mission. Luís Fróis (1563, Portugal) A Jesuit who befriended Oda Nobunaga and published the account later. His record still serves as an important resource for Japanese historians. João Rodrigues (1577, Portugal) A Portuguese Jesuit priest who carried out missionary work in Japan and served as an interpreter for both Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Rodrigues is also known for authoring notable works on Japanese culture and language. William Adams (1600, England) – The first Englishman to reach Japan. Among the first Westerners to become a samurai, under Shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu. Jan Joosten van Lodensteyn (1600, Dutch Republic) – Adams' shipmate, also among the first Westerners to become a samurai, who became an advisor for the shōgun. He is remembered in Japan (based on their variation of his name) in the Yaesu area of Tokyo and as Yaesu on one exit of the Tokyo Station.
17th century
Cristóvão Ferreira (1609, Portugal) – A Jesuit missionary who committed apostasy after being tortured in the anti-Christian purges of Japan. His apostasy is the main theme of the novel Silence by Shūsaku Endō. Luis Sotelo (1609, Spain) – A Franciscan friar who proselytized in the Tōhoku region of Japan with the help of Daimyo Date Masamune. He was executed after re-entering Japan illegally in 1624. John Saris (1613, England) – Captain of the English ship Clove, who met with shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu to establish a trading post in Japan. Nicolaes Couckebacker (1633, Dutch Republic) – VOC Opperhoofd (chief Dutch trader/agent) in Hirado, who assisted the government in 1638 to suppress Japanese Christian rebels led by Amakusa Shirō. (Note: In 1639, the Japanese government promulgated the Sakoku policy, which prohibited foreigners from entering Japanese territory. The only exceptions were Dutch traders and associated workers permitted to live on Dejima Island. This policy lasted until 1854.) Giuseppe Chiara (1643, Italian) – He entered Japan at a time when Christianity was strictly forbidden in an attempt to locate fellow priest Cristóvão Ferreira who had apostatized his Christian faith at the hands of torture by the Japanese authorities in 1633. Chiara was also tortured and eventually became an apostate as well. Engelbert Kaempfer (1690, Holy Roman Empire) – A German naturalist and physician. His descriptions in History of Japan (posthumously published in English in 1727) became the chief source of Western knowledge about the country for nearly two centuries. Giovanni Battista Sidotti (1700, Italy) – An Italian Jesuit priest who entered Japan illegally and was arrested. His communication with the scholar Arai Hakuseki resulted in the book Seiyō Kibun.