Career
After completing a thorough education in literature, art, and military training, Nagai entered the ranks of the Tokugawa bureaucracy. He served from 1851 to 1852 as an instructor at the Kitenkan, a branch of the Shogunate's Shoheizaka academy, located in the city of Kofu. Shortly after Matthew Perry's arrival, Nagai was placed in charge of casting cannons for coastal defense, and in 1855, he was transferred to the Nagasaki Naval Training Center, where he served as its director. Katsu Kaishu later credited Nagai for much of the training center's progress, as well as the construction of one of its training ships, the Kottoru. In 1857 he went to Edo (modern-day Tokyo) on board the Kanko Maru, Japan's first steam warship, together with 103 of his students.
In 1858, Nagai was appointed one of the first gaikoku bugyō (commissioner for foreign affairs). He served from August 1858 through March 1859; and he served again from November 1865 through April 1867.
Nagai was transferred yet again in 1862, this time to serve as one of the city magistrates of Kyoto. He served as Kyoto machi-bugyō from August 1862 through March 1864. Following this two-year stint in the capital, he was made a shogunate inspector or overseer (ōmetsuke) from March 1864 through May 1865. He was promoted to the position of wakadoshiyori-kaku (aide to the junior counselors) from April 1867 through January 1868; and thereafter, he was one of the wakadoshiyori (junior counselor) from January to March 1868 when the Meiji Restoration signaled the end of the Tokugawa shogunate.
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