Japanese Drifters to Mexico

Captain Jukichi’s Diary led me to the tale of Zensuke, another sea captain of the ship Eijyumaru, a vessel boastfully designated as “Sengokubune”, or One Thousand Koku boat (see previous post "Trip to Discover Kyoto History" regarding definition of “Koku,” a unit of volume), measuring roughly 15 meters long, single-masted, capable of carrying 150 tons of rice and other cargo. However, the term 1000 Koku was loosely used. The English translation of Sengokubune was large junk-style ship. So chances were slim that this not-so-first-class Sengokubune could ride out a storm once out on the rough open ocean. Eijyumaru got shipwrecked in October 1841, off of Cape Inubozaki, Choshi during the voyage north to Sanriku Coast.

Zensuke and his 15 crew members drifted in the Pacific Ocean until they were rescued by a Spanish vessel. The ship landed at Cabo San Lucas in Baja California and the rescued crew eventually ended up in Mazatlan.

That reminds me of a chilling experience I had when I visited Mexico ten years ago. It was inside a Franciscan cathedral in Cuernavaca, about 200 miles (300km) inland from Acapulco, where I saw a narrative fresco mural of 27 martyrs crucified in Nagasaki, Japan. You have to adjust your sun-exposed eyes coming into the candle-lit chapel, so that the mural emerges slowly, sending a chill up your spine as you realize what it is about. It depicted Christians caught, bound, and heavily guarded traveling from Kyoto to Nagasaki to die on the scaffold. The mural chronicled their plight. Cuernavaca has many historical landmarks related to Conquistador Hernando Cortez (1485 – 1547) and Maximilian I (1832-1867).

Who painted the mural and when? Perhaps it was some years after the day of the mass crucifixion in 1579. Legend has it that it might have been a Filipino who sailed with the Spaniards. He most likely witnessed the cruel scenes with consternation and wanted to bequeath what he saw.

I was surprised to find the inscription “Emperador-Taycosama” perhaps referring to Hideyoshi (1526 –1598) in the mural, the honorific use of tycoon, to indicate the awe and respect felt toward Hideyoshi.

I heard the wall had been covered over many times over the years where the mural remained hidden. Plastering over or replastering the wall signified the worshippers' wish to cure local epidemics. The mural was discovered only when the church went through some renovations. It was a remarkable discovery. The muralist’s will to convey what happened back then finally reached me covering the span of 500 years in an instant as I looked at the wall. I was not so far removed from the person who traversed the Pacific Ocean and saw our ancestors as pagans.

Zensuke and four other crew members returned to Japan four years later in 1845 to Nagasaki back from Macao under Portugal. The other eight did not return.

The Nikkei Newspaper had a short article more than ten years ago of Mr. Yoshikazu Sano, TV producer, who explored what happened to the eight, who preferred to remain in Mexico, and televised what he found. In Mazatlan, he found Juan Machado and his descendents. Juan Machado was reported to have helped five of them in finding shelters and work, while they stayed there and waited for a boat to return to Asia. In Cabo, Mr. Sano wrote he found the tomb of Tomas Lichie, the name recorded in the Magistrate depositions. Sano was not able to track down descendents of the crew left behind, but he was happy to build a bridge and establish some goodwill between Japan and Mexico.

Australian Connection

"Shirley, my heartfelt condolence to you in the passing of Dick. I know he was a fighter and persevered through adversity. I admired his courage. My sympathy to you, Shirley, who took care of him 'til the last. We lived during the same war days and shared moments of joys after the war. Our life paths met in Nagasaki in the l980s. We were good friends ever since. Praying peace in his soul." - Rio (sent March 6, 2009)

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Encountering people when traveling sometimes brings you a life-time friend and lots of joy. I met Dick and Shirley in Nagasaki, Japan in the mid '80s. I was then visiting my sister-in-law in Kyushu from the U.S. Usually, I made quick U-turns, but I had one free day to spare alone and decided to visit Nagasaki, the second city hit by an A-Bomb. I've been to Hiroshima but not to Nagasaki.

Upon arriving at the Nagasaki Station, I jumped on the sightseeing bus that was already moving. I stumbled into the rear seat. I felt at ease to see a foreign couple there and we exchanged nods. We were the only foreign visitors on the bus. The woman bus guide spoke in Japanese. I served as a translator for the couple as we cruised Nagasaki. I found that Nagasaki is the No. 1 city in Kyushu visited by foreign visitors today, so plenty of translators should be serving these days, I'm sure.

I remember our bus first visited Nagasaki's Hypocenter Park, where we saw a 10 meter tall (30 ft) young man's bronze statue, surrounded by an orderly gallery of peace monuments given as gifts from numerous foreign countries and sister cities of Nagasaki, including St. Paul, Minnesota, Middleburg, Netherlands, and Santos, Brazil. The central bronze statue took 10 years to build by the city of Nagasaki at a cost of 30 million yen (donation came from Japanese citizens) for the statue and another 20 million yen (budgeted by Nagasaki) for the statue foundation.
Sculptor Seibo Kitamura was quoted as saying, "I wanted to create a sage, towering like a mountain, seen as god or as Buddha as the case may be, I wanted him healthy and brawny." His right hand points towards the heaven, signifying the continuing threat of nuclear weapons, his left hand is extended outward symbolizing the continuous quest for peace.

The bus then took us to see a bit of Temple Row and China Town and the last stop was the former residence and garden of Thomas Glover* (1838-1911). We walked together inside the garden, and to the "Oura" Catholic Church nearby. During this day trip, I found out husband Dick was raised in Pennsylvania, went to the Korean War, and moved to Australia after retiring from the U.S. Army. We exchanged names and addresses.

We started writing to each other, but my letters were answered always by Shirley. I found out she was a court reporter. Answering my handwritten letters, she typed her letters always on "air-mailers." They were very professionally typed and I showed them to my American secretaries as a great example of a speed-written memo.

Topics of our casual exchanges started with the trees native or quasi-native to Australia. The Jacaranda is one, Moreton Bay Fig is another. I saw Jacarandas in Southern California for the first time. Jacarandas served as a substitute tree to cherry blossoms for us Japanese. I learned Jacaranda is native to Brazil but we also can find it in South Africa, Australia, Okinawa, Taiwan, etc. Shirley told me there is a Jacaranda festival in Queensland.

Moreton Bay Fig is a big tree, like the Banyan tree in the Lahaina Court House Square in Hawaii, and became a landmark tree in South California, namely Santa Barbara and San Diego. Shirley wrote back there is a beach actually named "Moreton Bay," in northern Brisbane, where they live. I dreamed that some day I would visit there.

My dream came true in the late '90s. My first visit to the country Down Under. I flew into Brisbane and flew out of Melbourne. I took the train between the two airports, stopping over at Grafton for the Jacaranda Festival and toured Sydney with the help of Dick and Shirley. In Brisbane, they offered me their son's room. They drove me to Moreton Bay, where Brisbane River drains into, and to Manly and Scarborough, both noted for their boat harbors, facing the off-shore Moreton Island National Park. The island is shaped like a battledore or a Chinese broadsword, about 20 kilometers in length from north to south, featuring the world's tallest sand dunes. Captain Matthew Flinders (1799-1802) explored the area on his Norfolk ship and left an accurate bay chart. Brisbane celebrated a Bicentennial Anniversary in 2002 for Flinders. I had an opportunity to attend their son Robert's commencement from college before leaving.

Dick showed me his authentic DX equipment in his den, his QSL (Quebec Sign Language) VK4DIC calling card and a towering antenna he erected by himself in his backyard. He had requested certain replacement parts and magazines from the U.S. specialty stores while I was in the U.S., so I knew about his life hobby and introduced him to some of my Japanese DXing friends. Shirley wrote that he continued to call "Greetings from Queensland, Australia" until his dying day, maintaining good friendship with his many "airwave" friends.

Dick liked to wear Japanese split toe "Tabi Socks" in the house. Once he got used to it, he was unable to do without it. About two years ago, Shirley sent me an email as follows:

Dick and I brought back lots of the slippers from Japan years ago. At long last Dick has run out of them. He wears them in the house, so I call them “slippers.” He calls them “thongs” because he says they can be worn outside the house. They are black for men and white for women. The material that they are made of is cotton with slightly tougher material on the bottom. They have four small metal tabs at the back of the part of the slipper that is over the ankle. On these small metal tabs Dick found the number “10” which may have indicated size. They are made in such a way that the big toe is individually covered and the other four toes are covered together.

I remembered Dick was quite agile in the Tabi socks. I sent them spare Tabis quickly as my personal gifts, confirming the size. It's the same size that I use.

After retiring as the court reporter, Shirley became active in the Shirley Club organization not only for Australia but also New Zealand. This organization consists of ladies all named Shirley and they get together every two years for a convention. Shirley said, as per Guinness Book of World Records, the Maria Club is No. 1 with about 500 members followed by the Shirley Club with about 300 members. At one convention Shirley had the biggest attendance of 230. Shirley, serving as secretary, has been busy in sending out birthday cards, membership newsletters, etc.

Shirley and Dick were visiting the U.S. almost every year. My wife and I were doing the same so I wanted to have a special reunion maybe in California or Hawaii. One time we were close to realizing our plan but it did not happen. I also looked forward to seeing them this summer because Toastmasters was planning to meet in Sydney but canceled suddenly. It would have been the first convention in Toastmasters history taking place outside of North America. One of the reasons for cancellation may have been the worldwide depression.

(To be continued)

Important, Very Important History

Let me start with an excerpt from Wikipedia about the flight of B-29 Bockscar, loaded with the second A-Bomb called "Fat Man" on August 9, 1945. On my way back from Washington D.C. in August 2006, I stopped at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Pattterson Air Force base and saw the Bockscar on display. I saw Enola Gay at the Smithonian Institute.

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"Kokura was the primary target, but when Bockscar arrived at its rendezvous point off the coast of Japan the third aircraft of its flight was not present. After fruitlessly waiting 40 minutes, Sweeney and Bock proceeded to Kokura but found it obscured by clouds. Sweeney had orders to drop the atomic bomb visually if possible, and after three unsuccessful passes over Kokura, conferred with weaponeer Commander Frederick Ashworth (USN). They agreed to strike the secondary target, Nagasaki.

A combination of factors including confusion about a malfunctioning transfer pump made fuel consumption a critical factor. Ashworth did not want to be forced to dump the bomb into the sea and decided to make a radar bombing run if necessary. However, enough of an opening appeared in the cloud cover to allow Bombardier Kermit Beahan to confirm Nagasaki and the bomb was dropped, with ground zero being about 3/4 mile from the planned aiming point. This combined with Nagasaki's position on the foothills (as opposed to Hiroshima's mostly flat terrain) resulted in lower overall casualties than in Hiroshima, with much of the blast confined in the Urakami Valley.

Because of the delays in the mission, the B-29 did not have sufficient fuel to reach the emergency landing field at Iwo Jima, so Major Sweeney flew the aircraft to Okinawa, where, despite being unable to make contact with the control tower, he made a safe landing with virtually empty fuel tanks."

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Yes, the primary target of the Bockscar mission was Kokura and not Nagasaki! VERY FEW PEOPLE KNOW THIS! Bockscar had given up bombing on Kokura because of cloud cover. How fortunate Kokura was and how unfortunate for the Nagasakians.

Recently I read a book written by one of the Kokuranites who was 12 years old then. This person remembered the clear morning sky on August 9, seeing a lone B-29 high above gradually shadowed by the dusky clouds. It then turned and flew away from Kokura. She thought the B-29 she saw must have been Bockscar that dropped the Fat Man in Nagasaki and had been puzzled since that day about the sudden change of weather at the time. She thinks she had her long time riddle solved from reliable sources that the dusky cloud cover was a man-made smoke screen. Per Wikipedia, Enola Gay deployed and flew over Kokura as the weather observation plane. The writer might have seen Enola Gay and not Bockscar. Another explanation is as follows. Yahata Iron & Steel in Kokura was air-raided the night before. The Tinian Bockscar and the air-raid bombers of August 8 had not talked to each other. Kokura was covered with smoke from the raid the night before. The Bockscar was given orders directly from President Harry S. Truman and even General Douglas MacArthur was not notified of his decision until the last minute.

My city, Imabari, was air-raided on the night of August 5. I thought it had no relation to the bombing of Hiroshima which took place on August 6; but there was! To isolate the A-Bomb target city from surrounding cities for food supplies and rescue efforts, Himeji, Tokuyama, Ube, Shimonoseki and Moji were raided in July. Imabari, along with Uwajima, Fukuyama were raided just before Hiroshima.

The Tinian based A-Bomb B-29s, meanwhile, were on their decoy flights for meteorological observation for 15 days prior to the day of attack. Every morning one B-29 flew at exactly the same time without escort fighters as if it was there only to monitor the weather. This was done not to alert and provoke defense from the ground forces and it tricked both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Residents of Hiroshima saw the bomb parachute coming down after the air-raid warning cleared.

All the air-raided cities were said to have read the warning bills. I hadn't seen any. Cities warned were raided as warned, except Hiroshima, Kokura and Nagasaki. Reportedly, a few wise men sensed something was wrong and felt uneasy.

Hiroshima, the target city of the first A-Bomb, "Little Boy" three days earlier, was the home base of the Japanese Imperial War Headquarters, and the 5th Army Squadron. Kokura had the Imperial Army Arsenal and Ordinances. The main Kyushu Army Squadron once stationed in Kokura was relocated to Kurume years ago. Kokura made most of the army weaponry and also balloon bombs.

After my return from the U.S. and having settled down in Kitakyushu in the mid l990s, I spent many days at the Central Library to learn about Kitakyushu, my new adopted city after Imabari, Osaka, Tokyo, New York, San Diego. I was able to find the air raid records of Yahata Iron & Works but not of any Kokura Arsenal and Ordinance. I befriended someone my age who graduated from Kokura high school and was able to read his school alumni bulletin. This friend had worked at the Kokura Arsenal in his school days. His information was helpful. It is shocking to discover Kokura was the first target and its epicenter could have been the library where I was currently sitting. Kokura had extensive underground passages and shelters but nobody knew how effective they were.

NAGASAKI AND NAGASAKIANS WERE MARTYRED ON BEHALF OF KOKURA RESIDENTS.

As of August 9, 2007, 143,124 Nagasakians were on the death toll; Hiroshima close to 200,000. We have about 250,000 victims alive who hold certified entitlements to receive medical aid under the Government's A-Bomb Survivors Law. One feature of the A-bomb is that the statistic is open ended. The A-Bomb changed the war. An atomic bomb eliminates the city, history and blood lineage. What happens when humans know they have no future. It becomes meaningless to live, to work, to learn, or to try anything.

Enola Gay carried the gun assembly Little Boy that used highly enriched uranium. Bockscar carried the implosion assembly Fat Man that used plutonium. There was no 3rd bomb in existence but the Allied Forces hinted "more to come and soon" as further threat against Japan if necessary.


Another August 6 is approaching. Just behind the Central Library of Kokura is a miniature Nagasaki bell and a small memorial built for Nagasaki victims of the A-Bomb attack. Leis of a "thousand origami cranes" were wet when I visited on a rainy day a week ago. Agapanthus were in bloom in white and purple. Kokuranites are to gather here to pray at 11am on August 9 and I will also be there.