See also:
Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)
Count (Baron) Nogi Marsuke
While her maid makes ready her bed, 1905
Whoever “Joe” is, he marks the first jinrikisha after the horses “my carriage”. There is no explanation provided. Baron Komura was the Foreign Minister, and former Supreme Court justice, representing Japan at peace negotiations with Russia hosted by US President Theodore Roosevelt to end the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05).
From the wiki: “Komura Jutarō was born to a lower-ranking samurai family of the Obi Domain in Kyushu’s Hyuga province. In 1875, he was selected by the Ministry of Education as one of the first students to study abroad under a government scholarship. In due course, Komura graduated from Harvard Law School in 1878. In 1880, Komura joined the Ministry of Justice and after serving as a judge of the Supreme Court, in 1884, transferred to the Translation Bureau in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In September 1901, Komura became Minister for Foreign Affairs, and helped conclude the Anglo-Japanese Alliance in 1902. The Russo-Japanese War ended with Komura’s signature on behalf of the Japanese government of the Treaty of Portsmouth on September 5, 1905.”