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Manjiro:
The Japanese Boy
Who Discovered America
Shipwrecked!
In January 1841, young Manjiro Nakahama and four friends were
caught in a fierce storm as they fished off the Japanese coast.
They drifted for weeks, then swam to an uninhabited island.
The John Howland to the rescue
After months on the island, a whaleship from New Bedford rescued
them on June 27, 1841. Captain William H. Whitfield, impressed
by young Manjiro's intelligence, decided to take him to America.
The sixteen-year-old boy was alone with his rescuers after his
companions left the ship and remained in Hawaii. The xenophobic
government of Japan, the Tokugawa Shogunate, would not permit
them to return after contact with foreigners.
An American education
The John Howland sailed into New Bedford harbor almost two years
later in May 1843. Manjiro lived first with a friend of Capt.
Whitfield's, and later on the captain's farm. He attended school
and studied navigation and whaling with the captain. He was known
locally as John Manjiro or John Mung.
The long journey home
In 1846, Manjiro became a hand on whalers and merchant ships.
Three years later, he set out for Japan via the California Gold
Rush (1849), eventually reaching his native land in 1851, after
an absence of ten years.
An uneasy homecoming
The Tokugawa Shogunate greeted Manjiro with suspicion and harsh
interrogations, although he was eventually allowed to remain in
Japan. For the rest of his life, he participated in the transformation
of Japan from feudal to modern nation, working as interpreter,
translator, shipbuilder, whaler, and teacher.
Opening closed ports
In the 1850s, when Commodore Perry anchored his fleet off the
Japanese coast, Manjiro worked behind the scenes to persuade the
government of the wisdom of opening the country's closed ports
to world trade. For more information on his perilous and fascinating
life, visit the John
Manjiro website.
A continuing bond
Manjiro and his mentor kept in touch until Whitfield's death in
1886. Manjiro lived until 1898. The descendants of both men have
maintained the connection that began over 150 years ago. The bond
between Manjiro's native village and Capt. Whitfield's New Bedford/Fairhaven
home was formalized in a sister city relationship in 1987.
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