Having commanded the imperial forces that captured the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido for the Meiji government, Kuroda in 1870 was put in charge of colonizing and developing that relatively primitive area. He hired American agricultural experts, subsidized immigrants, and encouraged new industry. Within a decade the population of the island quadrupled, and the productivity markedly increased. As a result, Hokkaido became a secure part of the Japanese islands, safe from the threat of Russian penetration.

Kuroda rose rapidly within the government. Although he was the only man in the Cabinet who in 1879 discouraged the establishment of a popular legislature, he was appointed prime minister in 1888. He resigned 18 months later in a dispute over revision of the “unequal treaties” the European nations had forced on Japan in the 1850s; but he continued to hold various other Cabinet positions and, as a member of the genro, to influence government policy until his death 11 years later.