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Volume 2, Number 3
Winter 1995
In This Issue: Index of other issues (Japanese names are presented western style, family name last, except for historical figures and bibliographic entries.)
- President's Column
- Review of the 5th Japan-America Grassroots Summit
- Students Have a Great Time in Japan
- 5th Summit Participants Comments
- Bulletin Board
- Manjiro Watch
- Editor's Note
President's Column
Rod Armstrong
Several American Presidents turned to Montana for help with regard to the U.S./Japan relationship--in the person of Ambassador Mike Mansfield--and we have done the same. At a meeting of the Board of the Society held in Tokyo after the Kagoshima Summit, we elected a distinguished Montanan, Lewis S. Robinson II, chairman of the Society. I believe the Board felt that, after finishing a very successful Summit, to which we had attracted Americans from a dozen states outside our home base here in the National Capital area, and with the site of the next Summit, Colorado, represented by a substantial delegation, it was time to create the office of Chairman and fill it with a Westerner who can give us a more national stature.
Originally from Louisiana, Lewis Robinson prepared for college here in Virginia at the Woodberry Forest School, took his B.A. at Tulane in New Orleans and did graduate work at Centenary College. After some years in various businesses in Louisiana and Texas, the Robinsons established themselves in Montana in 1976. Lewis has built up a range of entertainment, communications and real estate interests. He and his partners have recently merged their Firehole Entertainment Corporation in the New York Stock Exchange multinational, the Ogden Corporation.
Lewis and his family enjoy typically western hobbies: fly fishing, snowmobiling, skiing and horses. He is a founder or volunteer in numerous Montana civic and cultural organizations. Perhaps most important, he is the founder and Chairman of the International Grizzly Fund, which is well known for its practical programs for assisting coexistence in the Yellowstone region among bears, tourists and farmer/ranchers.
Lewis and Linda participated in the First Japan-America Grassroots Summit in 1991, and hosted the Wyoming/Montana segment of the first American Summit in 1992. The Robinsons have participated in all subsequent Summits and maintain an active network of Japanese friends and visitors--including the family of former Japanese Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa. (See exchanges, Vol. 1 No. 1). Since the launch of the American Society in 1994, Lewis has been serving as our Vice President.
Having strong leadership is important for us as we come to a real turning point in the Society's management. Our "parent" organization in Tokyo, the John Manjiro-Whitfield Commemorative Center for International Exchange, is confronting hard times during the prolonged Japanese business recession. They have informed us that they are "downsizing" in terms of office and staff, and will be unable to contribute to our overhead expenses after the end of their 1995 fiscal year on March 31, 1996. They will be keeping the CIE and its programs alive on a reduced scale, and they hope to cooperate with us on a project-by-project basis.
This is the time for the American Society to reciprocate all the assistance CIE has given us in getting started. Your Board of Directors will be meeting with Executive Director Tohru Takahashi of CIE in late January to discuss the details of our future relationship. Preparations for the Colorado Summit continue (indeed, we are told that some 70 Japanese have already signed up). The Board will, however, have to review our prospects for support from alternative sources and budget for our programs accordingly.
Finally, I would like to say that the Summit gave me renewed confidence in the stability of Japanese commitment to the relationship with the U.S. There has been a lot in American "op-ed" pages about the deteriorating relationship with Japan, and my old friends in the American Embassy in Tokyo were also worried. No doubt there have been serious strains at the government-to-government level. Nevertheless, I am sure my fellow participants in the 5th Summit would agree with me in saying that we found a s eemingly inexhaustible well of good will towards Americans. There was a respect and interest with regard to American human and cultural resources that left us all with a new sense of responsibility.
The Fifth Japan-America Grassroots Summit
Participants at Ibusuki enjoy the beautiful weather and scenery.The 5th Japan-America Grassroots Summit (October 28-November 6, 1995) amply demonstrated the value of "internationalization," a word frequently heard in Japan today. The Summit provided an experience of internationalization for both the U.S. and Japanese participants; specifically, it allowed a sharing of culture and ideas between the people of the two countries. Internationalization does not necessarily mean change to the ways of the other; it may be more properly defined as understanding and experience of those ways. By this definition, the Summit succeeded beyond all expectations.
Around 240 Americans traveled from the U.S. to Kagoshima for the Summit. They were joined by over 1,000 Japanese and Americans residing in Japan. The diversity in age, gender, states of origin, professions, and interests among the participants evidenced the true grassroots nature of the Summit and the variety of experience which participants brought to share with their hosts in Kagoshima.
The Summit began on October 30 in Tokyo, with the participants from the U.S. doing their best to recover from varying degrees of jet lag from the flights over to Japan the previous day. After a short orientation, most participants attended the special session of the Summit. Mr. Minoru Makihara, president of Mitsubishi Corporation and a trustee of the John Manjiro-Whitfield Commemorative Center for International Exchange (CIE), Minister Paul Blackburn of the American Embassy, and Mr. William Hosokawa, Honorary Consul General of Japan and senior vice president of the Japan America Society of Colorado, offered opening greetings. The opening session then moved to a symposium on "What is the Role of Grassroots Exchange?--The Role of Volunteers and Non-Profit Organizations." Mr. James Martin, president and senior consultant of the Mutual Interest Group, and Dr. Yosuke Hiray ama, a lecturer on the faculty of human development at Kobe University, offered their views on the session theme in a discussion moderated by Dr. Masaru Maruyama, an associate professor in the department of economics at Japan Fukushi University. Mr. Martin emphasized the importance of creating trust in the relationship between the U.S. and Japan on the business level, and outlined how philanthropic activity can be beneficial rather than burdensome for small and mid-size companies. Dr. Hirayama offe red his insights on how the recent earthquake in Kobe gave the Japanese their first real experience with volunteerism, which lacks in Japan the historic tradition that supports it in the U.S. At the welcome reception following the opening session, the Honorable Ichiro Ozawa, chairman of CIE and a member of the Japanese Diet, welcomed the Summit participants, and Deputy Chief of Mission Rust Deming of the American Embassy read a message from Ambassador Walter Mondale.
There were several groups of American secondary school students from various Japanese language programs along, and on October 30th they pursued separate programs from the main body of participants. Most of the Fairfax County, Virginia "Immersion Kids" and all of the middle and high school students visited Showa Women's College in Tokyo. They were impressed by the facilities; this private institution provides education from kindergarten through college (it has a junior college in Boston, Massachusetts as well). Showa provided special language, cultural and play programs for each of the student-parent groups. Some of the Immersion Kids visited their sister schools in the Saitama suburbs of Tokyo.
The following day participants left Tokyo for Kagoshima. The opening session began with a dazzling performance by the Kirishima-kumen drum group. The Honorable Yoshiteru Tsuchiya, governor of Kagoshima Prefecture, briefly welcomed the participants. Mr. Hiroshi Kawamura, chairman of the Kagoshima prefecture executive committee for the Summit, offered a short address and Minister Paul White of the American Embassy read a message from Ambassador Mondale. In the keynote address, the Honorable Sadao H irano, acting chairman of CIE and a member of the House of Counselors who, like John Manjiro, was born in the city of Tosashimizu in Kochi Prefecture, emphasized the historical meaning of holding the Summit in Kagoshima and the importance of local exchanges in creating for the future. In a guest speech, Mr. Sumiya Ozono reported on his search for information on the Cashmere and Suzanmaru incidents, two shipwrecks which led to gestures of friendship between Japanese and Americans. Final ly, the Honorable Robert Isaac, Mayor of Colorado Springs, issued a welcome to the 6th Summit next fall in Colorado, and participants watched presentations on both the city of Colorado Springs and the state of Colorado.
At the welcome reception, Governor Tsuchiya greeted the participants, and a women's chorus entertained the guests. Participants met many of their Kagoshima hosts for the first time, and were also joined by participants from the 3rd Summit in Nagoya in 1993.
On November 1, participants traveled to their individual exchange locales in Kagoshima Prefecture, where the activities focused on a variety of themes.
Kagoshima City
Participants say goodbye to their host families in KagoshimaKagoshima City chose "The Meaning and Future of Sister City Exchanges" as its theme. It welcomed sister city delegations from Miami, its own sister city, and from LaGrange, Georgia, which has a sister city relationship with the city of Aso in neighboring Kumamoto Prefecture. Kagoshima's exchange session included a discussion by a local history expert who compared the north and south of Japan during the pre-Meiji Restoration era with the north/south division in the U.S. around the War between the States period. As homestays are often the most valuable but also most nervously-awaited part of international exchange programs, participants also wrestled with issues such as how homestays can be made more comfortable for sister city visitors.
Kagoshima City also hosted a group of wheelchair road racers who had participated only the week before in a race in Oita Prefecture. The racers joined the opening ceremonies in Kagoshima and then had their own program of touring and athletic exchanges. Their activities included a competition in gateball, a sport that none of the road racers had tried previously. Although the racers did not have homestays, they did have dinner one evening in a Japanese home with their volunteer guides, who accompanied them during their time in Kagoshima.
Postal
The postal workers exchange continued the tradition begun at the 1993 Summit in Nagoya. Twenty-five postal workers and their family members visited post offices in Kagoshima City and joined an exchange session focused on postal service operations, procedures, and policies. Several members of the postal delegation served as panelists and shared their expertise with the postal service participants from Japan.
The postal workers also stopped by Nagoya to renew friendships made at the 1993 Summit. There they visited other post offices and served as honorary postal officers for a day. Adolph Chiappa, who headed the postal delegation from the U.S., noted that the organization of the postal services in the two countries was similar and applauded the courtesy and dedication to service of the Japanese postal workers.
Sendai
Sendai hosted one of three delegations of Japanese language immersion program students from Fairfax County, Virginia. The students and their parents spent part of one day at a nature training center for youth where each student dug a small piece of ground for a commemorative tree planting. Later both students and parents, assisted by a teacher at the nature training center and their fellow Japanese Summit participants, succeeded in making taketombo (a flying toy made of bamboo) which they carved themselves.
At Sendai Kumanojo Elementary School, the entire school welcomed the students and parents in a morning ceremony. At the school's new computer room, the American students quickly learned to operate the new computers installed only a few months earlier. Later the Japanese and American parents met while the students joined their partners in classes. The parents discovered both similarities and differences in their concerns about discipline, school activities, and how best to encourage educational and personal growth in their children.
On one bus ride, the immersion students took to singing some Japanese songs they had learned back home. The Japanese Summit participants joined the chorus. One participant in the back of the bus concluded, "I was worried about whether we could communicate, but isn't it wonderful to sing together?" The lively chorus continued, with both Japanese participants and immersion students introducing new tunes as fast as the previous song ended.
Kanoya
Kanoya (famous for its youth taiko drum group that livened up the Fourth Summit) welcomed 25 high school students of Japanese and their teachers for an exchange focused on the Japanese language and Japanese language education. Students experienced a Japanese class while their teachers entered a discussion on language education. Their first day also included a demonstration of the tea ceremony complete with an explanation of how to perform it.
On the second day of the exchange in Kanoya, the students and teachers visited a local historical museum before experiencing deep sea fishing and a sea food party. The students observed differences in fishing styles and were treated to a demonstration of the preparation of sashimi; the skill of the chef and the presentation of the food impressed many of the visiting students.
Agriculture
With the cooperation of the Japan Agricultural Exchange Council, 10 farmers also joined an exchange in Kanoya. The farmers had hosted young Japanese farmers as interns on a program called the Overseas Young Farmers Training Program that was initiated in 1952. The farmers from the U.S. were reunited with several returned trainees that they had met during the program, and participated in a seminar at which they discussed their current activities as well as the agricultural exchange program. They also v isited farms in the area and toured a new park built to introduce people from cities to area agriculture.
Makurazaki
Makurazaki, known for its production of shochu (a distilled spirit made of sweet potatoes), hosted a group exchange focused on its famous local product. Some of the many activities the Makurazaki participants enjoyed were visits to the Beppu tea-growing area and the Otsuka Greenhouses where chrysanthemums are raised. They also witnessed a demonstration of the processing of bonito, another famous local product.
The Makurazaki exchange session focused on ways in which shochu could be made more attractive to Americans. Other activities were also directly related to the shochu theme, including a tour of the plant where the locally-produced shochu is bottled for shipment. Several American participants from Kentucky, famous for the distilled spirit bourbon, noted the similarity of the processes for making bourbon and shochu.
Kushikino
The immersion students and parents in Kushikino began their visit with a stop at a pottery museum, where many got their first views of a Japanese-style room and their first experiences removing their shoes upon entering one. Other activities included a stop at an underground oil storage museum and a trip to "Gold Park Kushikino," a theme park where the proprietors were so surprised to see Americans, particularly Japanese-speaking America children, that they let the visitors ride the attractions for free.
During their visit to Kushikino Junior High School, the parents joined their children and the junior high school students in a self-introduction game and classrooms visits. At the discussion session following the classroom visits, students talked about their favorite sports and hobbies, while parents inquired about study times, dating habits, and educational practices. The inability of the Japanese participants to even respond to the visiting parents' questions about drinking and drug use pointed out some of the different issues facing parents in the two countries. S tudents and parents had a chance to observe after-school club activities, and solidified friendships made as they played basketball and other sports together.
Izumi
Izumi experiences both the benefits in the form of tourism and national interest and drawbacks from heavy damage to crops that come to a major center of seasonal bird migration. Participants visited the newly-constructed, $33 million (equivalent) Crane Center that gives visitors multimedia information about the birds and their habitat. They joined in feeding some of the 3,368 cranes then in residence (they are counted by local middle school students in the early morning; the population eventually rises to about 10,000). Participants picked Japanese tangerines (mikan) and picnicked at a grove in Izumi, and discussed the impact of recent imports of oranges from the U.S. on local production. They also visited some of the 150 farmer-samurai houses that are preserved in Izumi and the local historical and folk craft museum.
The theme "Coexistence among Cranes and People" guided the exchange session at Izumi, where three professionals from the International Crane Foundation (ICF) in Baraboo, Wisconsin shared their knowledge of crane preservation. The discussion illustrated cultural differences in the approach to cranes. While the Japanese participants emphasized the role of cranes in folklore and tended to cast crane behavior in human terms, the American ICF representatives thought scientific analysis of the birds' habitats could lead to increased public concern for preserving vital habitats. The Americans also emphasized the need for international cooperation in the protection of cranes.
At the end of the Summit participants' visit, Izumi citizens led the visitors in a dance imitating the cranes, and urged them to return the following year in the same way the cranes return annually to Izumi.
Ibusuki
Ibusuki chose the theme "Hot Springs, Health and Urban Planning" to highlight its location in an area which boasts many natural hot springs. Participants spent the first day in Ibusuki enjoying a hot sand bath--a new experience for everyone. Dressed only in yukata, participants lay down and were buried with hot sand until only their heads remained uncovered. They also visited a geothermal power plant that utilizes the abundant natural steam energy of the area.
At the exchange session, participants discussed how Ibusuki could utilize the natural attributes of its location to revitalize its tourism industry. The visiting Summit participants, noting the prevalence of hot springs and the warmth of the people of Ibusuki, suggested that retired persons would appreciate the attractions of the area. They also encouraged consideration of the needs of the disabled as development in Ibusuki progresses.
Nishinoomote
Nishinoomote, located on Tanegashima Island, is the home of the Japanese Space Center, the site of the shipwreck of the American merchant ship Cashmere in 1885, and the historic point of entry of firearms into Japan. Participants enjoyed a busy schedule of events which included visits to the Tanegashima Space Center, Cape Kadokura (the port of entry for an early ship from Portugal), and a local firearms museum. Several U.S. space program employees, including Mr. Robert Whitfield, fifth gener ation descendant of Manjiro's rescuer, and Mr. Frank Lavine, a researcher of the Cashmere shipwreck, were some who shared their knowledge.
Nishinoomote residents staged a play about the Cashmere Incident. The play included a reenactment of the rescue of the Americans and the later use of a grant from Congress to endow one of the first public schools in Japan. The play was complete with a 30-foot replica of the Cashmere. Participants also visited local elementary schools where students showed artwork which they had done illustrating aspects of the incident. Informal discussions among Nishinoomote participants covered topics ra nging from political differences to the U.S. military presence in Okinawa to Japanese children studying in America.
Kamiyaku
Kamiyaku on Yakushima Island welcomed U.S. park rangers from Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain, and Zion national parks, among others. Their activities included a visit to the Japanese national park on Yakushima, known for the ancient jomon cedar trees that stand there. The exchange session among the rangers produced fruitful discussion on the Yakushima area theme--"The preservation and use of forests." According to Mr. J.T. Reynolds, regional chief of the Rocky Mountain Region of the National Park Service, the rangers in Japan and the U.S. found themselves on agreement about the importance of balancing the requirements of the natural environment and economic activities. The rangers found differences, however, in the two countries' management of resources, definitions of "wilderness," and establishment of the buffer zones or dividing lines between the national parks and their surrounding territories.
Mr. Reynolds said the visiting rangers from the U.S. were able to offer some suggestions to their counterparts in Yakushima on the importance of preserving it as a natural area. Although Yakushima is not currently overcrowded, the U.S. rangers suggested that advance planning may help the rangers at Yakushima avoid some of the problems the U.S. rangers grapple with at overcrowded parks in the U.S.
Wadomari
Wadomari participants traveled further in Kagoshima than any other group--to the island of Okinoerabu, 321 miles from Kagoshima City. Because of its tropical climate, Okinoerabu produces sugar. Summit participants toured a sugar cane factory and, even though the timing of the Summit dictated that the factory was not currently in production, the visitors got a taste of this local industry.
Other Wadomari activities centered around the flower industry. Participants visited the home of a farmer who cultivates flowers, a biochemical research center for breeding Easter lilies and other flowers, and a central shipping plant that supports the flower industry. The Wadomari cultural festival rounded out the experience for Summit participants in Wadomari.
Aira
The immersion students and parents visiting Aira were welcomed warmly by the town and treated to an entire afternoon of entertainment . A barbecue lunch was followed by traditional Japanese music and activities, including a performance on the ichigenkin, or one-stringed koto. The American students provided entertainment for the hosts as well, performing "Hit the Road, Jack," "I've Been Working on the Railroad," and "If I Had a Hammer" for their hosts. Immersion student Sara Tyner reports that the crowd favorite, however, was "It's a Small World After All," which the immersion students sang in Japanese. Children from a local school met the visiting students at the event, and both sides enjoyed getting to know each other. The visitors had an entire day to spend with their host families as well, and many visited a volcanic mountain, hot springs, and other local sites.
Farewell
Participants buzzed with stories about their exchange and homestay experiences as they returned from their various exchange locales to Kagoshima City on November 3. Participants performed the Ohara-bushi dance with varying degrees of mastery during their appearance in the Ohara Festival, where they caused quite a stir with the local participants and shared American dances such as the Electric Slide with Kagoshima City residents.
Participants said good-bye to their host families with mixtures of happiness and sadness at the farewell party on the Sakurajima ferry boat on the evening of November 3. The Summit had drawn so many participants that two boats had to be utilized, but participants on both were delighted by the fireworks display that accompanied the party and the entertainment provided by student jazz and country bands from Kagoshima University.
A special ceremony during the farewell party paid homage to Summit tradition and the historical incident that inspired the grassroots exchange that the Summit exemplifies. In a ceremony performed every year at the Summit since its inception in 1991, Kei Nakahama, a fifth generation descendent of John Manjiro, gave a marble globe to Robert Whitfield, a fifth generation descendent of Captain William Whitfield who rescued Manjiro in 1841. The globe is exchange every year at the Summit between represen tatives of the families as a symbol both of the continuing family friendship and of the relationship between Japan and the U.S. Their faithful support of the Summit since its inauguration proves that the spirit of grassroots exchange is alive and well between the two families even 150 years later.
Students Have a Great Time in Japan
At the Fifth Summit, the students, with their command of spoken Japanese, were the most popular members of the American delegation. In addition to their participation in the Kagoshima portion of the Summit, there were all sorts of opportunities for the American students to meet their peers. A group of high school students came across a Tokyo college students' rehearsal of the English version of West Side Story in a park near their hotel, and had a lot of fun helping with the songs and dialogue. The young Immersion Kids enjoyed shopping with their parents for souvenirs like yukata (cotton summer kimonos). None of the Immersion Kids had visited Japan, despite as much as seven years of study in Japanese. They enjoyed the shift in the balance of power as their parents came to depend upon them for getting fed and getting around.
The Immersion Kids had a special day at the middle school of Showa Women's University. There was some initial shyness, but after starting with a demonstration class put on by the Immersion Kids and their teachers, the ice was broken and the children got together in small groups to make a Japanese flying toy of bamboo called a taketombo. In the meantime, the American parents discussed such matters as the differences between American and Japanese educational patterns, school discipline and study habits. Two of the Fairfax elementary schools, Floris and Fox Mill, have sister schools which they visited. There were lots of "high fives" and astonishment on the Americans' part about how the Japanese children regarded handshakes as exotic. At the sister schools, the students participated in calligraphy, art and music classes, while the parents met separately.
Some of the children and their parents spent their last day before departure in Kamakura. Thirty miles from the center of Tokyo, Kamakura prospered during the 12th and 13th centuries which resulted in the construction of many temples and shrines. The kids and parents did the tourist thing and hiked up to see a hilltop temple, but their main purpose was to play baseball with Kamakura's three Little League teams: the Lions, the Tigers, and the "Lovely Sons." Upon arriving at the Imaizumi Elementary School and viewing the uniformed Japanese players engaged in very serious practice, coach Paul Roche (father of Allison of Fox Mill Elementary School) made an instant command decision. Coach Roche immediately moved to negotiate with the Japanese coaches and made up two nice, friendly Japanese and American mixed teams. With the parents' cheers and enthusiasm, the result was lots of fun and good feelings on both sides. Even the parents took a turn on the diamond; the children were playing together and doing their own intercultural exchanges on the school playground.
Afterwards, the parents of Japanese little leaguers prepared the food for the hungry folks. The food, a wonderful combination of cultures, consisted of various Japanese rice cakes, soup, and very American hamburgers from the local fast food take out. Towards evening, when the Japanese and American ballplayers sang songs together, the ancient town listened.
Voices from 5th Summit Participants
"This experience was even better than we expected. The quality of people that we traveled with and met in Japan was outstanding. The discussion and information exchange made this trip far better than if we had simply traveled to Japan on our own." --Bruce Bender, Psychologist (CO)
"Thank you for choosing students to go on this trip. I hope other kids will have this opportunity in future years." --Katie Sheehan, Franklin Middle School (VA)
"There was an excellent mix of majority and minority Americans, aged and youth, handicapped, women, etc. [We appreciated the] focus on diversity." --Paul and Somphon White, U.S. Embassy, Tokyo
"I enjoyed my first visit to Japan very much and I wish we could have stayed longer. It was a long plane ride but it was worth the ride." --J. Brendan Woods, Fox Mill Elementary School (VA)
"[The most valuable part of this exchange was] realizing that disabled people can actively participate in this type of program." --Joseph Dowling, CPA/wheelchair road racer
"The best part of the experience was the conversation with 'my host-mom'. . .we talked about all sorts of important things to women: balancing family and job, political action to improve the status of women in both countries, availability of child care. . ." --Julie Langenberg, D.V.M. (WI)
"Meeting people from a society completely different was an experience I had not had before. [It was] very pleasant to see that even 7,000 miles away, we have much in common and really, we are neighbors. . .The daily affairs, even such a thing as going to get the children from school, made us feel a brotherhood with the Japanese. . . ." --Dana Thomasian, parent of immersion student (VA)
"This couple spoke no English but we liked each other so much we did very well in sign language and understood each other very well." --Peggy Mills, United States Postal Service (VA)
"A funny misunderstanding was when they asked us how we slept and my dad said he slept like a log. I tried to explain to them what that meant so I said what 'tree' is in Japanese. They thought I meant that the beds were as hard as a tree trunk!. . .I think the homestay was really great." --Katie Babiarz, Floris Elementary School (VA)
"I think we. . .reached some of the Americans who previously had little contact with the Japanese. One participant who had been in the U.S. armed forces against Japan during World War II confessed he wasn't too keen on coming but his wife talked him into it--he was glowing in his praise when the [Summit] was over." --Warren Little, FBI Agent, retired (CO)
"Communication was a challenge. I knew some phrases and words in Japanese. The daughters of the family knew some English, so we kept a dictionary handy and used it often." --Hazel J. Yon, retired (FL)
"Our homestay. . .was such a unique experience. . .[It] was something we would not have been able to do under any other circumstances. . .[The Summit] was an experience that went beyond our wildest expectations--a wonderful event to be savored for a lifetime." --Ova Haney, Master Distiller Emeritus (KY)
"My son. . .had the opportunity to see and use practical applications of the language he has studied for five years." --David Cordingley, parent of immersion student
"I was impressed with the depth of international culture of my host. He was more versed in western art or English literature than most Americans." --David Thompson, International Crane Foundation (WI)
"While I must admit that I was almost dreading the homestay, it was definitely the most valuable part of the exchange program." --Rosanne Sheehan, Domestic Engineer (VA)
"I really liked my homestay a lot. They treated me like their own son. They made me feel like a member of their family." --David Burrows, New Hanover High School (NC), Winner of Japan National Tourist Organization Art Contest at 4th Summit
Reflections after Midnight
I'm not exactly sure how it happened,
I'm not even sure of when.
I only know it did.We arrived upon your doorstep,
Strangers from distant lands.
We had no words to guide us,
Only our hearts and hands.Maybe it happened at the first "konnichi-wa,"
or perhaps your shy "Hello."
Surely it was the warmth in your smiles,
or the excited glint in your eyes.Whenever it happened, however it came to be,
No longer are we strangers, we're so much more than friends.
Even in the shortest time,
You've become our family!
--Kathi Whitfield (MD), November 3, 1995Bulletin Board
Interested in finding out more about John Manjiro and meeting old and new friends in the Manjiro Society? Join us April 28 and 29 for a members' event in Fairhaven, Massachusetts where Manjiro lived for just over three years in total after 1843. We plan to walk the "Manjiro Trail," visit the nearby whaling museum, etc. We will send more detailed information in upcoming weeks. If you may like to attend, please give us a call so we can see how many people are interested.
The Sixth Japan-America Grassroots Summit will be held in Colorado. The tentative dates are October 3-7, 1996. It looks like our Japanese guests will spend their first night in Denver, and then move to the Colorado Springs area for the remainder of the program, including a two-night homestay. The Japanese want to finish off their stay in the American West with a bus tour to Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon.
The Manjiro Society will be working with the Japan America Society of Colorado, which has its headquarters and staff in Denver and a branch run with volunteer effort in Colorado Springs. We need your views and ideas to start with, and ultimately we will need your volunteer help and homestay hospitality.
We are interested in finding out how many East Coast members are thinking of attending the Colorado Summit. If there is sufficient interest, we might be able to get a somewhat less expensive group rate. Please let us know.
The Colorado Society has formed a local steering committee, but they will need all the volunteer help they can get. Please contact the Colorado Society at their Denver Office (303-628-9633) or the Society's McLean Office (703-847-3906). At some point, we will have a staff member--probably in Colorado Springs--to coordinate the many details that putting on a Summit involves.
For all of us who enjoyed Japanese hospitality at the Fifth Summit, the Sixth Summit will provide an opportunity to return the obligation in a way that will contribute to the betterment of this vital relationship.
Manjiro Watch
We are pleased to announce the birth of the first member of the seventh generation of the Whitfield family in direct line of descent from Captain Whitfield. Master Wyatt Andrew Whitfield was born at 3:11 a.m. on December 26, 1995 (and thus narrowly missed being a "Christmas baby") in Nashville, Tennessee. According to family sources, "Wyatt" was selected over the New England names common in the family because it seemed to have more of a southern flavor befitting a new son of the South.One hundred fifty-four years ago, in 1841, the shipwrecked Manjiro was rescued by Captain William Whitfield, who brought him back to the United States and gave him an education. When I think of this relationship, it reminds me of the "Good Samaritan" story from the Bible (The Gospel according to St. Luke 10:30-37)
[He retells the story]
This is the story Jesus told when he was asked "Who is my neighbor?" If the thieves of the parable are changed to the storm which caused the shipwreck and the beast into the whaling ship, then one sees Captain Whitfield and Manjiro in the same context.
The Captain demonstrated to Manjiro the biblical philosophy of "Love Thy Neighbor" in a practical way. How did Manjiro repay the enormous on(obligation) he thereby owed to Captain Whitfield? I think it unquestionable that Manjiro returned his kindness performing acts of kindness not directly to the Captain, but to his "neighbors."
For a young man in his formative years, the one thing that must have been impressed upon him more than any other was the philosophy of "Love Thy Neighbor" as shown to him in action by the Captain. This was the teaching that most influenced Manjiro throughout the rest of his life, and an understanding of this influence provided a key to understanding Manjiro's later actions. It was not, however, behavior that [Japanese] people could understand during Manjiro's lifetime.
Grandfather Toichiro told the following story. Manjiro often took his family to a restaurant called Kurumaya (it was in Shibamyojininmae). At the end of the meals, he asked that the leftover food be put in an ori(a disposable container). On the way home, he would hand the food out to beggars. Furthermore, he enjoyed chatting with the beggars.
In those days, anybody who could afford to take his family out for a meal did not think of taking a doggy bag. Outward appearances and reputation were important matters. I do not think that taking one's family out was the "done" thing then; it makes me think of the way American families do things now. Manjiro did some hundred years ago what Japanese families do today.
It was not only beggars. Manjiro talked to everyone without class consciousness or any sense of hierarchy. He had no regard for the prejudices of his interlocutor. He took the same attitude with beggars, feudal lords and domain commissioners, conversing on a human-to-human basis without the flattery that those "above" him were expecting. Otherwise, I doubt that he could have told lords and commissioners, the very symbols of the feudal system, "In the United States, the Chief of State is chosen by el ection of the people."
People said, "Manjiro is a strange man. He talks to lords and beggars alike." But this was his habit everywhere, not just in Japan. Life in America, and the time he had spent in whaling ships with all kinds of people from every race, taught him how to relate to people on a human basis and with neighborly love. His was a borderless world, one of genuine grassroots exchanges; he had no need of "internationalization." Here we see the real Manjiro.
Hiroshi Nakahama, M.D., is the senior member of the fourth generation descendants of Nakahama Manjiro. The above translation is excerpted from Dr. Nakahama's article "Rinjinai to Manjiro," in the newsletter of the John Manjiro-Whitfield Commemorative Center for International Exchange (June 1995, page 8).
Editor's Note
It seems that Kagoshima people have never wasted their opportunities when it comes to learning from foreigners. Christianity was brought by St. Francis Xavier; the Portuguese sailors brought firearms; and our own Manjiro brought the first real knowledge of America. They even turned the disastrous British bombardment of 1863 into a learning process. Two years afterward they sent their first exchange students to England, to be welcomed by the British they had met in the peace negotiations.
Our delegation of 240 Americans landed at Kagoshima airport and not on the shores of Satsuma (the old name for Kagoshima as a feudal domain). As our participants tell you in this issue, we were treated with great courtesy and kindness and it touched all our hearts deeply.
But the Satsuma people have not lost their knack for discriminating use of their exchanges with the outside world. As I riffled through the local newspapers brought home from the Summit, an editorial in the Minami Nippon Shinbun caught my eye (November 4, 1995). The writer compared Kagoshima City and Williamsburg, Virginia, where the Summit was held last year, noting that both cities were center stage at the time of their nation's most formative years; that both produced great national leaders; and that there could even be a comparison between the Satsuma Civil War and its hero Saigo Takamori and the American War between the States and Robert E. Lee.
The big difference, and where Kagoshima could learn from Williamsburg, the Minami Nippon writer went on to say, was that Williamsburg had been restored, to the point where guides wear period clothing and the entire city is an educational institution. The writer concluded with a plea for the restoration of Nishida Bridge, a historic stone treasure in Kagoshima City.
Far be if from me to enter into a local preservation battle, but it was my impression that the people of Kagoshima are investing a great deal in preservation and historical education. After disgracing my Izumi City happi coat dancing at the Ohara Matsuri, I wandered around the city and rather enjoyed my sudden encounters with old buildings. For an active commercial city of over half a million people, I felt that old things are reasonably well kept. The main museum, the Reimeikan, is world class. The displays were good and the collections were interesting. They gave me an instant knowledge of Kagoshima history.
In Izumi City, the city history and folk craft museum had a well kept collection of materials and a nationally-known scholar as curator. Also in Izumi, there are about 150 old samurai residences currently under restoration. We visited two of them. At one, a descendant of the family greeted us. Despite the age and feudal dignity of his family home, he was dressed in modern clothes and was proud to have hosted an American feminist leader recently who had come on tour. Somehow, Kagoshima and its prese rvation efforts seemed more pragmatic and integrated with day-to-day modern life than the somewhat artificial atmosphere of Williamsburg.
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