Subsequent to his visit, Kalakaua started Hawai’i’s first study abroad program and sent young Hawaiian scholars to Japan (and China, Britain, Scotland, Italy, and America). The two students he sent to Japan were James Haku’ole and Isaac Harbotttle, brothers, 11 and 10 years old, who grew up in Kipahulu, Maui. Isaac (1871-1948) was the great grandfather of Hokule'a navigator Nainoa Thompson. The two boys arrived in Japan in 1882 to study the Japanese language and culture at Gakushūin University, also known as the Nobles School (Kuwazoku Gakko), with the aim of using their knowledge to aid in international affairs and the establishment of an immigrant worker program. Harbottle attended this school from 1883-1888.

In 1887, a group of haole businessmen took control of the government of Hawai’i and presented Kalakaua with a new constitution restricting his powers. The students in the king’s study abroad program were summoned home the next year.