Unlike the long history of Egyptology in the west, Japanese Egyptology began relatively recently. A seminal moment in its birth occurred in 1862, when Japanese visited Egypt for the first time, as part of the so-called First Japanese Embassy to Europe, sent by the Tokugawa Shogunate. Subsequently, the Second Japanese Embassy to Europe visited Giza in 1864, and was memorialised by a famous photograph, taken by Antonio Béato, showing a number of Samurai warriors in front of the Great Sphinx (Fig. 19.1). From that moment onwards, ancient Egyptian civilisation became known to the Japanese people through drawings, paintings, photographs and descriptions.