In 1865 Godai made contact with Thomas Glover who steered negotiations with the Platt textile machinery giant in Oldham, Lancashire, England. This visit led to the establishment of the Kagoshima Mill in Satsuma in 1867 - reputed to be Japan's first modern factory. Manchester engineers spent a year in Kagoshima to supervise building, factory production and the training of local workers. The Manchester Seven - as they became known had a special White Mansion constructed for their comfort and is today a museum. Godai's UK visit also included the Manchester Chamber of Commerce - reputed to have inspired the foundation of the pioneering Osaka Chamber and Industry. Godai later returned to Europe to negotiate with the Comte des Cantons Charles Montblanc to establish a joint venturecommercial enterprise for the development of Satsuma's natural resources in exchange for European weapons and manufactured goods. This French–Satsuma trading company attracted French investment into the Satsuma domain to establish a steamship shipyard and textile spinning factories and to send promising students from Satsuma overseas. Its existence also allowed Satsuma to participate as if it were an independent country in the Paris Exhibition of 1867, much to the consternation of the Tokugawa-government representatives. At the same time, Godai used his contacts to purchase the latest warships to equip the Satsuma in preparation with the growing conflict to overthrow the Tokugawa regime.
Meiji statesman
After the Meiji Restoration, Godai became a San'yo, and used his foreign experience to defuse a number of incidents created against foreigners by xenophobic ex-samurai. He resigned from government service in 1869, and turned his full attention to business. Basing himself in Osaka, he created several major joint stock companies involved in international trade, commerce and shipping, which he operated simultaneously. Godai went on to found the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and the Osaka Stock Exchange. He also participated in the Osaka Conference of 1875, which attempted to hold together the fragile coalition of feudal domains which dominated the early Meiji government. Godai was later implicated in the Hokkaido Colonization Office Scandal of 1881, which brought down the administration of Prime MinisterKuroda Kiyotaka.
