Irkutsk & Lake Baikal - Part 2: The Adventures of Kodayu Daikokuya

Mitchie and the Group took a half-day bus tour of Irkutsk before reembarking on the Trans-Siberian Train, which included visits to cathedrals, monasteries, parks, Academic Drama Theater and others. There were two spots they visited related to Japan - 1) a road sign “Kanazawa Street”, honoring the Irkutsk friendship relations with Ishikawa Prefecture and 2) a footprint epitaph of Kodayu Daikokuya (1751-1828) who spent 5 years in Irkutsk waiting for the Tsar’s permission to return to Japan. Captain Kodayu and his 17 “Heishomaru” crew, was transporting rice from Ise to Edo, when they suffered a shipwreck and became castaways at one of the Aleut islands. It was in 1782, more than half a century prior to the legendary John Manjiro’s return from the US, who served as interpreter for Commodore Perry. It took a decade for both Kodayu and Manjiro to sail back to Japan.

This blog traces Kodayu’s checkered journey highlighting his life at Irkutsk as the pivotal stopover point.

1786: Escape from the Aleut island (Kodayu crew decreased) A boat to pick up Russian seal fur hunters arrived, but was heavily damaged from a storm. Together with Russians, the Kodayu crew repaired the boat to make it sailable. During 4 years on the island, Kodayu and the crew acquired basic communication skills.

1787: Camchatsk Reporting to the Tigil-Camchatsk Governor, the crew was endowed with a cost of living as foreign nationals but rejected their plea to return to Japan. Kodayu met Barterlemy de Lesseps, uncle of Ferdinand de Lesseps here. Barterlemy was a Russian interpreter of La Peruse Pacific Survey Mission of France. He wrote about Kodayu and the Japanese castaways in his journal in 1790 - “the crew had special feeling of attachment and respect for Kodayu.”

1788: Leave for Irkutsk via Okhotsk, Vasilli, Yakutsk (2,400km) using boats, sleighs, horses, etc.

The Kodayu crew took advantage of Russian official Xotokevich who transferred to Irkutsk. Kodayu reported to Irkutsk Governor with their plea to return - to no avail and requested instead that they teach Japanese in Irkutsk. The five Japanese crew discussed how to live here for the moment without receiving a subsidy from the government. They determined to work here, or daily employment like blacksmith, copper work, dyer, etc. Meanwhile Xotokevich, who helped Kodayu travel to Irkutsk, introduced him to Kirill Laksman, a naturalist and a member of St. Petersburg Science Academy. He knew high ranked persons in the capital. Kodayu showed the copy of petition submitted to the Governor-General. Kirill promised Kodayu to do his best to realize his return to Japan, and prepared a new petition, where Kirill added the crew's return would open the way to a new trade relationship between Russia and Japan. Kodayu and the crew started to work for Kirill, developing trust and a close friendship.

Kodayu met “Tagamaru” boat castaways at Irkutsk who were teaching at the Japanese school.

1791: St. Petersburg/Tsarskoy Seio

When Kodayu met with Kirill on New Year’s day, Kirill said to Kodayu that it was strange to experience such a delay to get a reply. The petition might have been neglected on the way and had not been delivered to the Empress. There was no way other than appeal directly with the Empress. Kodayu felt that the idea was good and he was teary with joy. Kirill and Kodayu set to sleigh to St. Petersburg, 6000 km away, 200km each day, via Moscow. Kirill submitted the petition for Kodayu in February. Kirill became sick after the exhausting trip. Kodayu attended to Kirill until he fully recovered. In May the two received an invitation from Ekaterina the Great and hurried to Tsarskoy Seio. Listening to Kodayu, Ekaterina shed tears with compassion saying “how pitiful” and promised their return voyage.

Kodayu made it finally to Japan after 10 years. Contrary to Manjiro, however, Kodayu and Isokichi, one and only survivor (proving their harsh Siberian travel from frostbites mostly) had to go through semi-life prison and isolation in Edo, under Tokugawa Shogunate surveillance. One great thing was Kodayu recorded daily journals as captain and had dictated his adventures to Edo reporters which in turn became a number of modern novels. I noted an opera Kodayu which was produced in Moscow a few years ago, featuring a beautiful duet sung by Kodayu and Laksman.

Irkutsk & Lake Baikal - Part 1

My neighbor Mitchie and I share some common interests. We both have traveled to Russia. Thus, this blog - Russia Part 3, Irkutsk & Lake Baikal. He sent me the related CD photo album dated Sept 2001. He and his wife with their close kin couple (called hereafter the Group) took the Trans-Siberian Railroad together to Moscow and Saint Petersburg and stopped by Irkutsk, the so-called Paris in Southern Siberia for 3 days. My interest was Lake Baikal, as a mythical birthplace of the Japanese race, originating from the northern Mongoloid groups, and often related to the world conqueror Genghis Kahn (1162-1227). We Japanese are born with benign skin markings ‘Mongolian Spot’, which fades and disappears as we grow. Linguistically the Japanese belong to the same Ural-Althaic Languages as the Mongolian. Japan was targeted by Kublai Kahn (1215-1294), the 5th Khan and his fleet force, not once but twice. By luck, Japan was saved each time by seasonal typhoons that sank Mongolian boats.

I liked to sing Russian folk songs when I was young. “By the Lake Baikal”, a bit bleak, was my favorite, and I still remember the song by heart. The melody belongs to an anonymous Russian folklore but the lyrics in Japanese were by the famous cellist Yoritoyo Inoue (1912 - 1996) - a returnee from Siberia as a prisoner of war. I want to say he is the best and irreplaceable lyricist of the song. Upon checking the original Russian folksong, I found the song was for the exiled Decembrists in 1825 to Irkutsk, lamenting their misfortune but pledging they would bear down and stand and return home someday. Please listen to the Japanese Dark Ducks Quartet’s melody I added for your listening pleasure.

Dark Ducks version

Russian version

The first exiled people came to Siberia since the beginning of the 17th century - with the beginning of the Romanov Dynasty. Wild, remote, icy Siberia became the place of eternal exile and death of many hundreds and thousands of people disloyal to the government. The first Decembrist group from Petropavlovskaya took almost two months to reach Irkutsk. Brave wives followed. These people stayed and died in Irkutsk rather than returning. In 1917. the revolution hit with the abolition of the monarchy. Bolshevik (Reds) eventually won over the counter-revolutionaries (Whites) in 1923. The civil war chased remnants, nobles and refugees into Siberia, far out to Baikal, drowning them in watery graves.

After their overnight hotel stay in Irkutsk, Mitchie and the Group, headed for Litsvyanka (see the map), located 70 km southeast from Irkutsk, near the point where the Angara River leaves Lake Baikal. There at the mouth of the river stands the colorful Limnological Museum. They saw not only fauna and flora but enjoyed its fabulous aquarium. In 1996, Lake Baikal was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Listvyanka is an old style Siberian village famous for its trade history, fish market and St. Nikolay’s Church made of logs in 1846 . It also has many scenic spots. On the way back to Irkutsk, they stopped at the Taltsy Wooden Architecture Museum in the open air. All of the structures represent the settlements of Evenks, Russians, Buryats and give an overview of the traditional home in Siberia.

Kitakyushu Next Generation Energy, Infrastructure & Logistics Projects Scramble, embracing its Quintessential High Strength Bolts, the battery of our industry!

A Happy Reiwa’s 2nd New Year to you all from Kitakyushu Japan! Yesterday (Jan 17) was a quarter century anniversary since the tragic Great Hanshin Earthquake. Kobe people had their memorial service and silent prayer in front of bamboo lanterns to mourn the victims. That was the new year I returned to Japan after retiring from the U.S. and started my ‘2nd Round’ career in Japan. I adopted Kitakyushu as my new home with the help of my sister-in-law and commenced to run the 4th English Toastmasters Club on Kyushu Island.

Kitakyushu, having accomplished a complete transformation from ”Iron Capital” to multi-cultural/diversified technology metro, is proud of its blue skies and blue sea, commissioning renewable energy projects, such as solar, biomass and off-shore wind farms in Hibikinada. In addition, the area boasts a ton of infrastructural / logistics achievements including a new monorail transport (sides of trains featuring images from “Galaxy Express 999” authored by native son Reiji Matsumoto), the largest container port terminal in western Japan, around the clock floating (offshore) passenger / cargo airport, progressive urban expressway network construction, hospitable accommodations for international conferences featuring “environmental topics” emphasizing the area’s strengths. Kitakyushu is also boosting sporting events, opening an anime/manga museum and have built a live stage performance theater complex, and hosted many film location shoots. The long, sustained effort should pay off and we expect a bright 2020 dawn to shine over Kitakyushu.

During the New Year holiday celebration, I met an old friend “Mitchie” in the neighborhood who surprised me with the news that the bolts he put his heart and soul in developing as a young engineer, was used in bedecking the ramp bridge recently straddled over the Kagoshima Railroads at the JR Yahata Station. I asked him did he mean by the “Harunomachi” Ramp, the so-called Kurosaki Bypass (5.8km between Jinnoharu and Harunamachi) to be connected to #3 National Road and eventually to the Urban Express in the near future? He said yes! Wow, I had been watching the long ramp under construction at the south side quarter block along the JR railroad since last Spring which took more than half a year in the form of overhead concrete road on the scaffold. Around October, I saw tall and heavy-duty cranes arriving for the final lifting. Unfortunately, I was hospitalized in early November and could not confirm when the work was completed. I think I read in the paper the school children in the neighborhood were invited to see it just before the opening week. Upon completion of the Kurosaki Bypass, industries that will now benefit in the Higashida District, where the century old Yahata Iron & Steel was based, consist of cogeneration, smart grids, home and building energy management systems, and medical institutions. My friend said the final lifting was done in the dead of night in late December with vehicle traffic suspended. When I visited the site in January, the work was already completed. All the clutter I saw last year was gone. Showing outside the Yahata JR Station were recorded videos of the ramp bridge being lifted by a 3,000 ton crane.

The second time I met Mitchie, he brought his ”baby” bolt and the mock photo of the bolt set on a rocket ready to go adorned with the rising sun flag, his way of rejoicing predominance of his bolts. We cheered over cups of coffee for what his bolts have achieved. Thousands of his bolts were mounted on the ramp bridge. His bolts were also used on high-rise buildings, including Abeno-Haruka Tower in Osaka, currently the tallest building in Japan, and the Tokyo Sky Tree Tower and the new Olympic Stadium recently opened with countless number of his bolts. Bolts are quintessential in airplanes, vehicles and in the space industry.

I was not an engineer but during World War II, I got mobilized for about two years as a student worker at an airplane factory, which was converted from a spinning mill. After receiving intensive training by an arsenal mechanic, I was assigned to wing panel tack riveting, using an air drill. I found caulking aluminum tack not an easy job. They often ended up deformed to be chiseled off. Today, we live in a world where mistakes are never tolerated!

Photos of ramp bridge work at night courtesy of Kawada Industries, site manager

Tokugawa's Logistic Legacy Reborn in Mizushima Bay Complex

During the Edo Period, Kurashiki prospered as an area directly controlled by the Tokugawa Shogunate as a logistic center, using Takahashi River and the Seto Inland Sea transportation. Distinctive white-walled, black-tiled warehouses were built to store rice bales and other goods. Upon the Meiji Restoration, factories were built, including the Ohara Spinning Mill, which still stands as the nostalgic tourist attraction spot in Ivy Square. Known today as Kurabo, or Kuraray, the conglomerates diversified their operations worldwide.

I recently visited Kurashiki for a reunion with two old friends of mine who grew up in Kurashiki. Let me call one friend Kawa-San (resides in Kurashiki), and the other Tani-san (from Kyoto). They were classmates at both Kurashiki junior and senior high schools. I came to know the two separately through two different employers I worked for. Very rarely did I become well acquainted with anyone that I knew when I lived in Japan. I met Kawa-san in New York and Tani-san in San Diego. My name probably came up during their conversation and developed into a triangular friendship. Late last year, Kawa-san proposed a reunion. Tani-san and I seconded but it took time to set the date. It was this summer when all three of us finally agreed to meet on a weekend in September.

The reunion took place at a hotel lobby. After lengthy chatting and a luncheon, we strolled along the Kurashiki art arcade and visited Ohara Art Museum, the nations’ first authentic art museum built by Magosaburo Ohara (1880-1943), an entrepreneur and philanthropist. We spent the rest of the day there. I have visited Okayama (about 15 minute away by train from Kurashiki) often for Toastmasters events but It was my first time visiting Kurashiki and Ohara Museum and I was excited.

On day 2, Kawa-san drove us to Mizushima Bay Industrial Complex, formed by the intricate deltas at the mouth of Takahashi River, inclusive of the reclaimed as well as refilled lands connected by bridges, upon the merger of three cities, Kurashiki, Kojima and Tamashima in 1967. The designated area, I learned, is over 2,500 hectares, including a number of small mountains, occupying about 7% of the total area of new Kurashiki City. It is huge, equivalent to 400 Tokyo Domes inside. Kurashiki Minato Bridge, built in 2017, and State Highway 430, connects Kurashiki and Tamashima near the complex.

The complex is divided into five areas (see the complex chart above), named clockwise from A to E, where Mitsubishi Auto, which settled there before the war, is designated as A. B is centered around the East Mizushima Station, now turned into an exclusively container freight train station, with its nearby port facility. Area C or Kojima Shionasu area, is occupied by Sanoyasu (shipbuilder) at the tip. D is on the delta land reclamation area with a golf course on the south end. E is southern Tamashima District, that includes the land reclamation connected with the Harbor Bridge. The man-made island at E is the hope of the entire complex as the container terminal, where ships like tankers and bulk carriers can anchor alongside the wharf. There are 30 or more companies located at each of the five zones, nearly 200 companies in total that includes chemical, gas and oil, power, steel, autos and others coexisting together in the complex. There are companies straddling multiple zones - Mitsubishi Chemical over B and C, JXTG Energy A and C, and Mitsubishi Auto A, C and E. The production output is reported to be half of that of Okayama prefecture.

Kawa-san, supervises 100 people daily serving engineering and maintenance works for industries in the complex since his father’s days. He must be awfully busy.

To conclude day 2, all three of us sat together at noon at the Washuzan lookout point in Kojima to enjoy a panoramic view of the Seto Inland Sea and the entire span of the Seto Ohashi Bridge and pledged another reunion in the near future.

Keiro Day for the Kitakyushu Einomaru District

September brings another “Keiro Day” for the old folks. It was more than 10 years ago that I began receiving invitations from our neighborhood association to attend the luncheon, which includes heart-warming and entertaining events. My wife started to attend shortly after.

I unfortunately missed some events in my early 70s, due to some selfish conflicts of overseas traveling. But I no longer have such worries, and look forward to this annual meeting with our Einomaru neighbors. We are fortunate to have a nearby hotel ballroom that easily accommodates a couple of hundred guests, and a free shuttle bus to transport us.

I will definitely recall the Sunday, 15th of September, the first year of Reiwa, under the new Emperor Naruhito which started April l, 2019. The banquet opened with the proclamation by the President of the Association. The mayor’s message was read, and the board members and crew of volunteer hostesses were introduced with big applause. The toast then proceeded to a luncheon. Served inside the wooden lunch box were delicacies of all lands and seas, and a separate bowl of thick custard soup. Delicious!

I had high expectations of listening again to the wind instrument band of the nearby “Hokuchiku Sr. High”. Yes, I had my wish come true and I nudged my wife’s elbow. Years ago, our daughter played clarinet in the SDSU Aztecs Band, a marching band with over three hundred members. As a matter of fact, she majored in music at San Diego State University in the US with a degree in music composition. I enjoyed many Aztec performances whenever they played at the SDSU football games. Occasionally, they played at special performances like when the San Diego Padres returned from the World Series (unfortunately Detroit Tigers won) and when President Ronald Reagan was running for reelection.

Hokuchiku Band is made up of only 50 members but filled up the small ballroom show stage. The music they played included:

• “(Hikawa) Kiyoshi’s Zundoko Section - one of the Japanese Enka (ballad) masterpieces.
• “Flowers Bloom” - lyrics by Shunji Iwai, composed by Yoko Kanno, a hit song to support the Great East Japan Earthquake Recovery.
• Okinawa Song “Nada Soso” (Endless Flow of Tears)
• Hibari Misora’s Great Song “Like the Flow of the Rivers”

The band played with young energy and passion. We sent them a storm of applause. Hokuchiku has recently won repeated Gold Medals at the annual Kyushu Senior High School Band Competitions. We are blessed with their high spirits and for their local community charitable contributions.

A New Human Species

My iPhone evening news bulletin alerted me. A 20-year old rookie Hinako Shibuno from Okayama, Japan won the LPGA British Open by a razor thin margin of one stroke. I was following her progress and knew she was leading the tournament on the third day.

I had to burn the midnight oil to see how she won on the final day. I saw Hinako lose the leading heat in the first 9 holes, but she still hovered in the spoiler position. In the home stretch of her last three holes, 16th through 18th, I watched 3 women Lizette Sails, Jin Young Ko and Hinako competing in a three-way tie, with no one ceding the lead. It was a nail-biting series! Lizette almost broke the tie and won except that she missed the birdy shot on the short 17th. Tension made Ko shy off on the 17th. Hinako knew she could beat Lizette if she made the 5 meter long putt on the 18th green. Even a great pro golfer might need 2 putts to finish unless a miracle happens. Then she proceeded to break the tie with Lizette who was already on the putting practice green in anticipation of the tie-breaker. A flash hit Hinako’s mind “enjoy & rejoice!” Her positive determination made the winning ball roll, crawl, lick the edge of the cup wall, and fall in with a thump as if it hammered in. Hinako made it look so matter-of-fact easy. The victory photo showed her left hand raising her Ping putter straight and high with a princess smile, ready to take her trip to Disneyland. Did Hinako's pose reflect what she pictured in her flashing mind just before her putt? You bet it did!

“A stunning victory,” said Ayako Okamoto, a veteran Hall of Fame golfer who won 17 US-based LPGA, including two Inamori Classics in which I was involved. However, Ayako missed the major tourneys such as US Open and British Open. It was Hisako or Chaco Higuchi who won the US Open in 1977, making her the first Asian champ. Okamoto heralded the arrival of new champ, Hinako Shibuno, as a “New Human Species!”

San Diego TV Program Features Clara Breed

Hurray to the recent San Diego KGTV special program that featured Asian Pacific American Heritage Month! One of the highlights of the program was about Clara Breed, a San Diego Librarian (1906-1994). Let me applaud Rina Nakano who produced the program, having learned about hundreds of letters (she exquisitely called “letters of hope”) exchanged between the children of Japanese descent in the World War II internment camps and Clara Breed, then serving as the children’s librarian in San Diego. I hope Rina had a chance to visit the Japanese-American National Museum (JANM) in Los Angeles to see the original handwritten letters by the children. I went there myself in 1995, after Breed’s funeral. I had worked together with Clara Breed on the Planning Stage Committee of the Japanese Friendship Garden to be established inside Balboa Park. The committee was presided by Wil Hippen, Jr., Honorary Consul General of Japan. I represented my Japanese employer, and Clara was the voluntary substitute secretary of the committee. This was arranged by Liz Yamada, who sat on the committee along with Joe Yamada, her husband. I didn’t really know who Clara was at the time. I did notice that the minutes she wrote were superb and I voiced my appreciation.

I contacted Liz Yamada after reading Clara’s obituary, having learned about how a box full of children’s letters addressed to her have been donated to JANM. I immediately visited JANM and found the letters in the process of being scanned. I was able to copy some of them in the hope of writing about Clara Breed. I also contacted the Japanese-American Historical Society of San Diego (JAHSSD). Joyce League, then editor of JAHSSD “Footprint”, told me about a New York writer named Joanne Oppenheim who had started interviewing their members for a book. She advised me to wait for her book to be published.

To make a long story short, I read Joanne’s book, titled Dear Miss Breed, when it first came out and felt it my mission to translate it into Japanese. I wanted as many young Japanese children as possible to know that there was an American woman who gave “letters of immense help” and hope to the children who found themselves under adverse circumstances.

My translation had a print run of 6,000 copies in 2007 and I’m glad they reached all major metropolitan city libraries as well as libraries of major educational institutions in Japan.