First Japanese Visitor to USA Describes American Life // 1860 Tokugawa Embassy // Primary Source

[Music] the year after I reached yet oh the sixth year of an SCI that was established the so called Treaty of the five nations and the port of Yokohama was formally opened for trade with foreign countries one day I went to Yokohama for sightseeing there was nothing of the town of Yokohama then a few temporary dwellings had been erected here and there as posts for the foreign trade and in these the pioneer merchants were living and showing their wares to my disappointment when I tried to speak with them no one seemed to understand me at all nor was I able to understand anything spoken by any one of the foreigners I met neither could I read anything of the signboards over the shops nor the labels on the bottles which they had for sale there was not a single recognizable word in any of the inscriptions or in any speech it might have been English or French for what I knew on the very next day after returning from Yokohama I took up a new aim in my life and determined to begin the study of English but needless to say there was no teacher of English than in yet oh I did not know how to begin I found after inquiring around there was an interpreter named Moriyama takashi ro who had been called from nagasaki to help in the negotiation proceedings of the new treaty I heard that this man knew some English though his speciality was Dutch I went at once to Marianas house and implored him to teach me English at that time a young lad had reached yet Oh from Nagasaki we heard that he knew some English and we tried to get some pronunciation from him then occasionally there were shipwrecked Japanese fishermen who were brought back by foreign ships these poor men had formerly by government degree not being permitted to re-enter this land but after the new policy of open ports came into effect they were allowed to return home whenever we heard of any such men we called on them at their lodgings and asked them to give us any English they knew in truth Dutch and English were both strange languages written sideways of the same origin our knowledge of Dutch could be applied directly to English our one time fear was a groundless illusion the year after I was settled in yellow the sixth year of anti the government of the Shogun made a great decision to send a ship of war to the United States an enterprise never before attempted since the foundation of the Empire on this ship I was to have the good fortune of visiting America [Music] this video is sponsored by Magellan the premier documentary streaming service so here we are 100 days until lockdown and I can now confirm that Coco has watched all of Magellan's documentaries and now runs the channel how are you Coco okay luckily for Coco Magellan have a huge range of fascinating documentaries everything from ancient history to space including some beautiful nature documentaries my personal recommendation this week would be the Jupiter enigma an eye-opening documentary on Jupiter's huge effect on the early Earth and a great companion to our new channel the entire history of the earth a longtime supporter of content from the history brothers Magellan TV is basically a Netflix for documentaries with the widest range of history content available anywhere click on the link in the description for an exclusive month-long free trial for voices of the past viewers thanks though it had been called a warship the vessel was a very small sailing craft equipped with an auxilary steam engine of 100 horsepower which was used for maneuvering in and out of harbors in the open sea she must depend entirely on sale the government had purchased her from the Dutch for 25 thousand Ryo a few years before and had named her the Cameron Maru this voyage of Cameron Maru was an epoch-making adventure of our nation every member of the crew was determined to take the ship across unassisted by a foreigner it seems to me now that the reason for granting my wish to go on the boat so easily must have been that such an unusual Enterprise as the voyage was to be there were not many volunteers no sooner did we get out into the open sea that we ran into storms and continued to have rough weather all the way across in the rocking shepper quiet dignified meal was impossible so I used to pile my rice in my purloined Bowl and pour soup and everything over it take it to the side of the cabin and eat standing up for a whole month we saw nothing but the waves and the clouds once we sighted a sailboat said to be an American vessel carrying Chinese workmen over to America that was the only thing we saw during the voyage the four or five American sailors on our ship were found to be using more water than they were supposed to one of the officers told captain Brooke about it and the latter replied instantly you may shoot any semen found wasting water any such person is guilty of general treason to the ship no admonition or inquiry is necessary you may feel free to shoot him at once our water supply was thus made to hold out and we with the entire crew of 96 men reached land at San Francisco after 37 days I am willing to admit my pride in this accomplishment for Japan the facts of these it was not until the sixth year of Kay that a steamship was seen for the first time it was only in the second year of an say that we began to study navigation from the Dutch in Nagasaki by 1860 the science was sufficiently understood to enable us to sail the ship across the Pacific this means that about seven years after the first sight of a steamship after only about five years of practice the Japanese people made a trans-pacific crossing without help from foreign experts I think we can without undue pride boast before the world of this courage and skill our welcome on shore was certainly worthy of a friendly people they did everything for us and they could not have done more the feeling on their part must have been like that of a teacher receiving his old pupil several years after graduation for it was their Commodore Perry who had effected the opening of our country eight years before and now here we were on our first visit to America as soon as we came on shore we found we were to be driven off in carriages to a hotel while we were resting in the hotel city officials and various dignitaries came to offer entertainment we were given quarters in the official residence of the Navy station on Mare Island our hosts knew that we Japanese were accustomed to different diets so they arranged that our food instead of being served should be prepared by our own cook in the quarters allotted to us but the officials being very kind and desiring to satisfy the Japanese love for seafood sent fish every day also on learning the Japanese custom of bathing frequently they had baths prepared daily this generous treatment in every way brought to mind an old expression of ours as if our host had put us on the palm of his hand to see that we lacked nothing on our part there were many confusing and embarrassing moments for we were quite ignorant of the customs and habits of American life for instance we were very surprised even by the carriages as part of our very first experiences on seeing the vehicle with horses are attached to it we should easily have guessed what it was but really we did not identify our mode of conveyance until the door had been opened we were seated inside and the horses had started off then we realized we were riding in a carriage behind horses all of us wore the usual pair of swords at our sides and the hemp sandals so attired we were taken to the modern hotel there we noticed covering the interior the valuable carpets and rugs which in Japan only the more wealthy could buy from the importers shop at so much a square inch to make purses and tobacco pouches with here the carpet was laid over an entire room something quite astounding and upon this costly fabric walked our hosts wearing the shoes with which they had come in from the streets we followed them in our hemp sandals immediately bottles were brought in suddenly an explosion the popping of champagne when the glasses were passed around we noticed strange fragments floating in them hardly did we expect to find ice in the warm spring weather some of the party swallowed these floating particles others expelled them suddenly others bravely chewed them this was an adventure finding out that they were ice I wanted to have a smoke but seeing no tobacco tray such as in Japan is placed before the smoker to hold the burning charcoal brazier and the bamboo ash receiver I took a light from the open fireplace perhaps there was an ash trainer and a box of matches on the table but I did not recognize them as such I finished my smoke but finding no ash receiver I took out some of the tissue paper which we carried in place of handkerchiefs and wrapping the ashes in it crushed them very carefully and place the ball in my sleeve after a while I took out the paper to have another smoke some wisps of smoke were trickling from my sleeve the light that I had thought I had crushed out was quietly setting me afire after all these embarrassing incidents I thought I could well sympathize with the Japanese bride her new family whom the bride has never met before welcome her tell her to make herself at home and do everything to make her comfortable one laughs with her another engages her in conversation all happy with the new addition to the family in the midst of all this the bride has to sit trying to look pleasant but in our efforts she goes on making mistakes and blushes every time before leaving Japan I the independent soul a carefree student who could look the world in the face had feared nothing but on arriving in America I was turned suddenly into a shy self-conscious blushing bride the contrast was indeed funny even to myself [Music] one evening our host had said that some ladies and gentlemen were having a dance party and they would be glad for us to attend it we went to our dismay we could not quite make out what they were doing the ladies and gentlemen seem to be hopping about the room together as funny as it was we knew it would be rude to laugh and we controlled our expressions with difficulty as the dancing went on these were but a few of the instances of our the wildermann to the strange customs of American society on taking leave our host and hostess kindly offered us horses to ride home on this pleased us for a chance to ride horseback again was a relief especially did captain Kimura enjoy this for he was an accomplished horseman who used to ride every day in yeto we touched whip to the horses and rode back to our quarters at a trot the Americans watched us and exclaimed at the Japanese ability in riding so neither of us knew much about the other at all our hosts in San Francisco were very considerate in showing us examples of modern industry I'm sure that our attentive hosts thought they were showing us something entirely new naturally looking for a surprise at each new device of modern engineering but on the contrary there was really nothing new at least to me I knew the principle of the Telegraph even if I had not actually seen the machine before rather I was surprised by entirely different things in American life first of all there seemed to be an enormous waste of iron everywhere in garbage piles on the sea Shores everywhere I found lying old tins empty cans and broken tools this was remarkable to us for in yet Oh after a fire there would be hundreds of poor people swarming in the ruined district looking for nails in the charred wood so valuable was metal in Japan then too I was surprised at the high cost of daily commodities in California we had to pay a half dollar for a bottle of oysters and they're only 20 or 30 in the bottle of that in Japan the price of so many would only be sent or two things social political and economic proved most inexplicable one day on a sudden thought I asked a gentleman where the descendants of George Washington might be he replied I think there is a woman who is directly descended from Washington I don't know where she is now but I think I have heard she is married his answer was so very casual that shocked me of course I knew that America was a republic with a new president every four years but I could not help feeling that the family of Washington should be regarded as apart from other families my reasoning was based on the reverence in Japan for the founders of the great lines of rulers like that for Yasu of the Tokugawa family of Shogun's really deified in the popular mind so I remember the intense astonishment I felt at receiving this indifferent answer about the Washington family as for scientific inventions and industrial machinery there was no great novelty in them for me it was more in matters of life and conventions of social customs and ways of thinking that I found myself at a loss in America I've already described the generosity of our hosts and the people in San Francisco not only did they repair the damaged parts of our vessel but they were thoughtful enough to build lockers in convenient places on board for the use of the crew when the ship was ready and we were preparing to set sail on the homeward voyage we inquired how much we should have to pay for the repair of our ship and the expenses we were met with a kindly smile and we were obliged to save away with our obligations unpaid before sailing the interpreter Nakayama and myself each bought a copy of Webster's dictionary this I know was the very first importation of Webster's into Japan in spite of the general public dislike of all foreign studies students in my school gradually increased after my return from America during my stay in San Francisco I had come in contact with foreigners had heard their language and made a special effort to improve my knowledge of English but as yet my knowledge of English was not sufficient I still had to have much recourse to my dutch english dictionary though i called myself a teacher i was still a student along with those i was instructing [Music] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Voices of the Past

Views: 1,544,393

Keywords: First contact, first impression, japan, japanese, anime, history, primary source, tokugawa, embassy, samurai, China on rome, relaxing, asmr

Id: IvPxCuIspWs

Length: 17min 31sec (1051 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 13 2020