I want to tell the story of an incredible adventurer who brought Scotland, Japan
and Canadian and American first AND later nations together.
If that sounds like a tall order then come with me and find out.
If you re interested in the people, places and events in Scottish history
then click the subscribe button at the bottom right of the screen.
In the meantime, let me tell you a story.
In 1848 Japan had been closed to the world in self-imposed isolation for over 200 years.
All that was going to change when American Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into Tokyo Bay,
informing Japanese authorities that he would be back in a year to
conclude a trade deal with Japan whether they liked it or not...
but you d be amazed at how much of the change that was about to come was affected by Scots.
Today I want to tell you about one in particular. ...
When this bolshie American commodore turned up with his gunboat diplomacy,
how did this closed country even communicate with the English speaking world?
Let me tell you about Ranald MacDonald Ranald
was born at Fort Astoria, in the Pacific Northwest.
Depending on whether you believe the Hudson s Bay Company or the American Pacific Fur Company,
some might claim him as American or Canadian, but he was born in a trading post with
a multicultural mix. His dad was Scottish,
and his mum was local first nations Chinook. She died shortly after he was born, so at first
he was looked after by her family then his dad s Metis second wife.
He was brought up and educated on various Hudson Bay trading posts as dad moved around,
but mainly at Red River Colony, Manitoba. After that it was on to train as a banker,
under one of his dad s pals in St Thomas, in Upper Canada...
but he wanted to go to Japan! Nobody went to Japan
Apparently when he was a boy three Japanese sailors were
shipwrecked and brought to Fort Vancouver around the time that he had been there.
There s debate as to whether he was actually there at the time
or had already left for Red River School. There s debate as to whether this motivated
him to his deep interest in Japan... Was it that he wondered whether they were
the closest relatives to the ancestors of his Native American forebears
who had migrated across the Baring straights? Whatever the answer to these questions he set
his mind to go to Japan. But how to do it?
It was closed to the outside world, and a visit to their shores could result in imprisonment...
or death. There s a decision to be made.
Death Work as a bank clerk.
Death Work as a bank clerk
In 1841 he broke out of the bank and headed of sea.
In 1845 he signed on as crew on a whaling ship called Plymouth.
In 1848 it set out on a hunt from Hawaii. He persuaded the ship s captain to put him to sea
on a little boat off the coast of Hokkaido. Are you mental?
Do you know the punishment for folks landing in Japan?
Hokkaido is the island at the northern end of the Japanese archipelago
and it s where I m standing now. In his autobiography MacDonald said:
"My plan was to present myself as a castaway ... and to rely on their humanity.
What? Didn t you
see the film Bridge Over the River Quai? Or Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence?
What about the TV series Tenko? Am I showing my age?
He said: My purpose was to learn of them; and,
if occasion should offer, to instruct them of us.
Well it s up to you mate, but I think you re taking a risk.
I know some of you are thinking: What s so difficult?
If I was called Ronald MacDonald and I wanted to get into Japan
I d just dress up as a clown and sell them hamburgers.
In fact in Japan the burger clown is called Donald MacDonald.
You see they already had a famous Ronald MacDonald... our guy!
On 1st July 1848, he came ashore on one of the smaller islands off Hokkaido here
It s called Rishiri Island, and it s out there somewhere.
He pretended he had been shipwrecked and a bunch of locals took him
to the daimyo of Matsumae clan. That s the local feudal overlord.
They sent him... ...to Nagasaki
Nagasaki was the only place that westerners were known of.
It was the only place they were allowed to be as this is the only place where the Japanese
carried out limited trading with the Dutch. So they held MacDonald under house
arrest, at a temple here in Nagasaki, but the Japanese had been aware of American
and British whaling ships entering the waters round about their coastline.
So, since nobody in Japan could speak proper English
they sent fourteen Samurai to learn English from a Scottish Native American.
Now you see why the Japanese talk funny?
He spent ten months cooped up teaching English to these guys.
One of them was a bit of a genius with languages.
His name was Moriyama Einosuke. They didn t know it at the time,
but the ten months spent learning English from this Scottish Native American
meant that when Commander Perry arrived off the shores of Japan five years later
Moriyama Einosuke was conversant enough in English to be heavily involved in the negotiations.
Samuel Wells Williams, the American missionary and linguist who travelled
with the Perry expedition said of Einosuke. A new and superior interpreter came....,
named Moriyama Yenosuke ... He speaks English well enough
to render any other interpreter unnecessary, and this will assist our intercourse greatly.
He ... asked if Ronald McDonald was well, or if we knew him.
... giving us all a good impression of his education and breeding.
Einosuke was also one of the players involved in negotiation of
the Treaty of Yedo with the British five years later.
Negotiating on the British side was the Earl of Elgin...
a direct descendant of Robert the Bruce. No wonder they understood each other.
Ranald MacDonald is probably a name that nobody in Scotland has ever heard of...
but here in Nagasaki today
there s this monument to the Scotsman who first taught Japan to speak English in 1848
Donald McDonald? Eventually he did bring hamburgers
to Japan... but that s another story. If you d like more stories about Scots
who impacted Japan then there s a video coming up on screen now.
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