Regarding the Oct. 3 article "The first Western diplomat in Japan": Rodrigo de Vivero y Velasco (born in Laredo, Spain) was a Spanish officer from The Viceroyalty of New Spain, who was appointed interim governor of the Philippines from June 15, 1608, to April 1609. The Viceroyalty of New Spain included the Spanish territories in North and Central America and the Asia-Pacific, including what we now know as California, the southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and the Philippines. It was ruled by a viceroy from Mexico City who governed on behalf of the king of Spain. Therefore, the correct answer to the "pop quiz" in the first paragraph of the article is Spain, not Mexico.
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