In 1615 a Japanese samurai was made an honorary citizen of Rome.

1615 · 1620 · apart: 5 years

Hasekura Tsunenaga met the pope, but when he got home in 1620 Christianity had been banned in Japan.

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The event

• A samurai embassy reaches Spain1614 · Coria del Río. An embassy sent by the daimyo Date Masamune under Hasekura Tsunenaga crossed via Mexico to Spain in 1614 and met Pope Paul V in Rome in 1615. Some of the Japanese stayed in Coria del Río near Seville, where hundreds of people today bear the surname Japón.

17th century

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