Service in Japan (1858-64)
In 1858, he was appointed Consul-General in the Japan.
Alcock opened the first British legation in Japan within the grounds of Tōzen-ji in Takanawa, Edo (now Tokyo).
"I peace, plenty, apparent content, and a country more perfectly cultivated and kept, with more ornamental timber everywhere, than can be matched even in England", Sir Rutherford Alcock, 1860.In those days, foreign residents in Japan faced some danger, with noticeable Japanese hostility to foreigners (sonnō jōi). In 1860, Mr. Alcock's native interpreter was murdered at the gate of the legation, and in the following year the legation was stormed by a group of ronin from the fiefdom of Mito Han, whose attack was repulsed by Mr. Alcock and his staff.
In 1860 he became the first non-Japanese to climb Mount Fuji.
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