Japanese

"Manjiro Nakahama (1827-1898)"

Manjiro Nakahama who is known well as another name "John Manjiro" to Japanese people, was born in 1827 in a poor family lived by fishing in Tosa Shimizu of Kochi prefecture.

When Manjiro was fourteen years old, he went fishing along with five shipmates, but they run into a storm and drifted ashore of Tori-jima, a uninhabited volcanic island. Their severe life in the island lasted for about six months.

After nearly 140 days, they were discovered and rescued by a U.S. whaling ship. However, Manjiro and his shipmates could not get back to Japan since Japan was closed off to the world at that time and people were not allowed to contact foreigners. The ship's captain, John H. Whitfield took Manjiro and his shipmates to a safe place, Honolulu of Hawaii.

At that time, only Manjiro decided to go to U.S. as a crew member of Whitfield's boat. Captain Whitfield discovered his great talent and activity, then renamed him John Mung. In his new life on the ship, Mung started to learn alphabet right away and worked hard. Seeing his faithful attitude, the other crews gave him lesson in English. Mung could not afford to school in Japan, but it is said that he showed remarkable learning ability.

Two years later, Whitfield's ship returned to New Bedford, Massachusetts.
Whitfield took Mung to his home Fairheaven, and made him enter a school, and let him master English, mathematics, surveying, navigation, etc.
According to a record of the then schoolmate, "Mung was shy, quiet, modest and polite person. In the class, he devoted himself to study and could became the top of the class all the time."

Mung experienced some voyages after he graduated from the school.
At that time, the California Gold Rush had been creating a sensation.
Mung decided to go back to Japan. He made some money at California and rushed to meet his first shipmates stayed in Hawaii. However, to get home Japan meant they broke a rule of isolationism. Therefore, they had to prepare for the worst.

February in 1851, after ten years of his drifting, Mung and other two shipmates landed at Okinawa, Japan. After six months of investigation by the government, eventually Mung could return to his home Tosa Shimizu next summer at the end. Since Japanese government might need many information about the West, Mung was given an exceptional high position. Since he was anxious for the opening the country, he offered the details of U.S. as many as he knows.
Nevertheless, he sometimes lost stages in his business filed because conservative domains suspected him that he was a spy of U.S. because of his capability. However, Mung worked hard for interpretation, shipbuilding, navigation, surveying and whale shipping. At the age of 33, he got a chance again. The government decided to send a mission to U.S., and he was given an important role in the mission as an interpreter and a navigation officer. The great men in history such as Kaishu Katsu, Taisuke Itagaki and Yukichi Fukuzawa were on the boat as well.

After the mission, Manjiro worked hard again for cultivation surveying, whaling, assumed as a professor of the present Tokyo University, made voyages for Western countries, but he never belonged to the government service until he passed away at the age of 71-year-old.

The drifting changed Mung's life, but his later life may be different if he did not come across Whitfield captain. It's said that Mung had never forgotten Whitfield's kindness all his life and kept in touch by letters even after he left Fairheaven.

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