Tanaka Shōsuke

Tanaka Shōsuke was a Japanese merchant in the early Edo period. He is the first recorded Japanese to have travelled to the Americas in 1610. Returning to Japan in 1611, he again went to North America in 1613, with the embassy of Hasekura Tsunenaga. In total, he accomplished two round trips between Japan and North America and helped establish trade and diplomatic relations between Japan and the Spanish Empire. According to Sumpu-ki, he was a representative of the great Osaka merchant Gotō Shōsaburō.