America’s sudden forced arrival! The English-speaking Japanese man who helped the samurai.

Thursday 29/02/2024 | 19:58 PM

During the samurai period Japan had an isolationist policy and didn’t trade with foreign countries. On July 8^th, 1853, a black American ship suddenly arrived. It was a huge steel steamship, the likes of which had never been seen before with men aboard who were frighteningly tall compared to Japanese of the time. The color of their eyes and hair was different, and naturally they surprised the samurai, but of course those men couldn’t speak Japanese. So, could the samurai converse in English? No, not at all, so how did they all communicate?

Dutch and Chinese
The American party knew that the Japanese government did not have English interpreters and so brought along a letter of intent written in Dutch and Chinese. Since only Nagasaki in Japan continued to trade with the Netherlands and Portugal on a small scale during the isolationist policy period, they believed that Dutch could be understood. Nevertheless, they couldn’t negotiate in a language that was not their native tongue.

At that time, a certain man made an appearance…

That man was John Manjiro. His original name was Manjiro Nakahama.

A fisherman from what is now Kochi prefecture, was lost at sea when he was 14. He and 4 others were living on a deserted island for five months when they were rescued by an American ship.

The other four were dropped off in Hawaii, but Manjiro, who was favored by the captain, was adopted by the captain, and traveled to the U.S. mainland.

What followed was an amazing story of success. Manjiro was so poor in Japan that he could not read or write Japanese, but he ended up attending Oxford university, where he learned not only English and mathematics, but also surveying, navigation and shipbuilding, and graduated at the top of his class.

Later, he took advantage of the gold rush that began in the U.S., earned money through gold mining, and returned to Japan with his friends left in Hawaii.

After that he became Japan’s one and only interpreter. Relied upon by both Japan and the U.S., conversation between the two countries could begin.

Incidentally, John Manjiro was highly renowned for his English ability and knowledge of the West and was promoted to the samurai class. He became a key figure in the rapidly advancing business between Japan and foreign countries.

John Manjiro succeeded by doing what no one else had done. While today, many people can interpret between English and Japanese, in those days the rarity of such a skill make it worthy of national recognition.

What special skills will you acquire?

ABE KENGO