Comments on: The Life of Otokichi

The Life of Otokichi

switchsonic — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 23:17:51 -0800

The true story of Yamamoto Otokichi (or John Matthew Ottoson, a transliteration of "Oto-san"): a Japanese seaman who in 1832 got caught in a storm off the coast of Japan and ended up floating all the way across the Pacific, becoming the first Japanese (documented, at least) in North America. And that's only the introduction to his story. To get back to Japan he traveled around the world, setting many firsts for a Japanese native, and played a part as the inspiration for Commodore Matthew Perry and his "Black Ships." Although barely a footnote in history, in 2005 half of his ashes were brought back to Japan to rest in home soil.

By: RavinDave

RavinDave — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 23:38:35 -0800

I smell a sitcom !! Seriously, very interesting story.

By: Meatbomb

Meatbomb — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 23:47:55 -0800

Thank you for the interesting links switchsonic. Never heard of this guy before.

By: rfbjames

rfbjames — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 00:01:56 -0800

Very interesting story, thanks for sharing it switchsonic.

By: caddis

caddis — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 00:23:38 -0800

First post - it's an out of the park home run!!!!!

By: three blind mice

three blind mice — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 01:04:02 -0800

Hole in one, switchsonic. Fascinating story from an amazing time in history when the world was still a large (and largely unknown) place.

By: gomichild

gomichild — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 02:28:05 -0800

What a fascinating story! Thanks!

By: p3t3

p3t3 — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 04:55:54 -0800

Cool story!

By: GrammarMoses

GrammarMoses — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 05:08:59 -0800

Another one saying thanks for this. Fascinating.

By: gen

gen — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 05:22:33 -0800

[this is good!]

By: languagehat

languagehat — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 05:43:39 -0800

Magnificent post; too bad MeFi's not in the midst of one of those best-of-the-month contests, or you'd have yourself a Trendy Consumer Electronics Product. I knew nothing about this, and I used to live in Japan and have considerable interest in its history. Thanks, switchsonic! I did notice an annoying glitch in the text: For nearly one year, the three boys spent day after day teaching Dr. Gutzlaff their native language. Dr. Gutzlaff polished his Japanese skills while completing the Otokichi, the only semi-literate of the three, edited the draft work phonetically in simple katakana letters. Some words have obviously dropped out between "the" and "Otokichi," and there's no hint as to what the "draft work" was.

By: No-sword

No-sword — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 06:26:34 -0800

Yeah, but did he inspire shamelessly made-up J-E phraseprints like Manjirō? I put it to you that he did not! Fantastic story, though. Thanks.

By: gen

gen — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 06:47:53 -0800

I have to wonder how many Japanese know about Otokichi. I'll bet yen to Mister Donuts that most Japanese have never heard of him.

By: TedW

TedW — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 07:41:34 -0800

Fascinating story, great post. Thanks!

By: absalom

absalom — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 09:23:43 -0800

Neat! And here I thought all the shipwrecked Japanese during the Tokugawa Shogunate ended up in Russia.

By: chunking express

chunking express — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 10:26:25 -0800

That was awesome.

By: Tehanu

Tehanu — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 10:28:35 -0800

Neat.

By: sswiller

sswiller — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 10:58:55 -0800

tubular

By: rtha

rtha — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 11:05:08 -0800

What a story! Thanks!

By: munchingzombie

munchingzombie — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 17:06:41 -0800

A month or so there was a MeFi post with a clip from the Stephen Sondheim musical Pacific Overtures. http://www.metafilter.com/60720/Someone-in-a-Tree-from-1976-Broadway-Show-Pacific-Overtures The show features a character based on Otokichi. A very interesting life.

By: SPrintF

SPrintF — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 19:06:04 -0800

Dr. Gutzlaff Oh, c'mon. That's a name that Charles Dickens would have been proud of.