A Symposium for the Centennial of the Japan Society of Boston
Saturday, October 30, 2004
9:30am - 6:00pm

Image: Detail, Ship Manhattan at Uraga, 1845. Manuscript Scroll, Ink And Watercolors on Mulberry Paper, Shozo Usui. New Bedford Whaling Museum Collection.

The official, diplomatic relationship of Japan and the United States began in 1854 with the Kanagawa Treaty that resulted from the two visits to Japan by Commodore Matthew C. Perry and his “Black Ships.” But the unofficial, personal relationship began in 1841 with the rescue at sea of a young Japanese castaway (later known as John Manjiro) by an American whaling ship captained by William Whitfield. Manjiro traveled home to Massachusetts with Capt. Whitfield, and lived in Fairhaven and New Bedford for nearly a decade, returning eventually to Japan as the only Japanese person who spoke English well and possessed a deep familiarity with American society and culture. The Manjiro-Whitfield friendship has come to symbolize the many personal ties between Japanese and Americans over the past century
and a half.

The Japan Society of Boston and the New Bedford Whaling Museum will explore and celebrate the legacy of the Manjiro-Whitfield encounter in a symposium on the origins of the U.S.-Japan relationship and its development during the latter half of the 19th century in New England. It was in this region of America that relations with Japan flourished earliest and most richly, resulting in strong educational, cultural, and commercial ties between New England and Japan. Leading American educators, writers,
intellectuals, and cultural leaders became increasingly fascinated with Japan – some might say “obsessed” – and it was their activities that resulted in the extraordinary collections of Japanese arts and crafts to be found today in such museums as the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Peabody Essex Museum, and in many private collections. It resulted also in enduring ties between Japan and American universities and schools, and it resulted in 1904 in the establishment of the Japan Society of Boston as the first such American organization dedicated exclusively to exchanges with Japan.

In a day-long symposium on October 30, leading Japanese and American scholars, writers, and journalists will discuss the “Pacific Encounter” that began with a rescue at sea and led to America’s single most important bi-national relationship in the world today.

PRINCIPAL SPEAKERS

• Prof. Naoyuki Agawa
  Keio University & Embassy of Japan
  
• Prof. Christopher Benfey
  Mount Holyoke College
  
• Prof. John Dower
  Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  
• Dr. Stuart Frank
  New Bedford Whaling Museum
  
• Prof. Andrew Gordon
  Harvard University
  
• Prof. Carol Gluck
  Columbia University
  
• Mr. Junji Kitadai
  Manjiro biographer & journalist
  
• Mr. Hayato Sakurai
  New Bedford Whaling MuseumHOSTS
  
• Ms. Anne Brengle
  Executive Director, New Bedford Whaling Museum
  
• Mr. Peter Grilli
  President, Japan Society of Boston

CO-SPONSORED BY
New Bedford Whaling Museum &
The Japan Society of Boston

An official event of the Centennial of the Japan Society of Boston
and the 150th Anniversary of U.S.-Japan Relations

This symposium is made possible by the support of
The Freeman Foundation and The United States-Japan Foundation