Japan Society of Fairfield County
Matthew C. Perry IV and President Sakamaki meet
In
October
2009,
JSFC
members
Bob and Koito Karlon attended
the Fairhaven Manjiro Festival in Fairhaven, Massachusetts and met Dr.
Matthew C. Perry IV, a 4th generation descendant of Commodore
Mathew Perry’s brother Raymond. They recommended I meet with him as
well. Dr. Perry and I
exchanged several emails. At the time, I was also arranging a
visit with my college friend Mr. Ichiro Fujisaki who is the current
ambassador
extraordinary and plenipotentiary of Japan to the United
States in Washington DC. On August 21st, 2010, my wife Hiroko and
I had the pleasure of having
lunch with Ambassador Fujisaki and Dr. Mathew C. Perry and his wife
Georgia in Chevy Chase,
Maryland. At lunch Dr. Perry presented Ambassador Fujisaki with a copy
of the newly published Japanese translation of Commodore Perry's
Narrative of his voyages to Japan.
Christopher R. Perry, Commodore Perry's father,
had a total of five sons and one daughter and all five sons served in
U.S. Navy. Among the five,
Commodore Oliver Perry achieved the greatest distinction during the War
of 1812 by leading the victorious American forces in the Battle of Lake
Erie. Over the years the U.S. Navy has named many of its ships and even
a class of ships after the Perrys. Dr. Perry is a research
biologist
with the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland. He has a
collection of materials from Commodore Mathew Perry’s Expeditions to
Japan.
We felt as if time had slipped back 156 years when we listened to Dr.
Perry
recount stories of the Commodore’s expeditions to Edo. One story was
about the
Japanese custom of bathing in the public baths where both sexes mingled
indiscriminately, oblivious of their nudity. The Commodore was hardly
impressed by this custom. We bid farewell promising to visit
again and see the collection of expedition artifacts. Dr. Perry's
comments on the Japanese custom of bathing follow:
THE NARRATIVE AND JAPANESE PUBLIC BATHS
On January 6, 2010, I was very pleased to receive in
the mail a book from Japan and in Japanese that Ms. Hiroko Todoroki had
mailed to me on November 2, 2009. Hiroko had mailed it at the
request of Mr. Toshio Fujimoto, who was the publisher of the book
printed in Japan in 2009 by his company Banraisha, Inc. I had met
Hiroko in Japan during my trip in July 2009 as part of an international
cultural exchange. She was the main reason I was invited to go to
Japan and also the person that had told Mr. Fujimoto that I was related
to Commodore Perry. That serendipitous connection was the main
reason he wanted me to have a copy of the book entitled, “Narrative of
the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan
Performed in the Years 1852, 1853, and 1854 Under the Command of
Commodore M. C. Perry, United States Navy.” The book contains the
United States Congressional Document of communication to Japan and the
eventual signing in 1854 of the Treaty of Peace and Amity between the
U.S. and Japan (Treaty of Kanagawa). This is the first time that
the Narrative, which was published in 1856 by the U.S. Congress, has
been translated into Japanese for easy accessibility for the people of
Japan.
The book arrived in perfect condition in spite of
the long delay, which in mid-December had prompted Mr. Fujimoto to send
me another copy directly from his publishing company, which I received
on February 1, 2010. I will donate this second copy to the
Manjiro Whitfield Friendship Society, a Japanese/American group in
Fairfield, Massachusetts, that has members and visitors who can read
Japanese. The night the book arrived I stayed up until 11 PM and
went through every page carefully. I compared all the beautiful
lithographs and wood cuts that he reproduced with the originals in the
first volume of the three-volume set that I have of Commodore Perry's
narrative. I was very impressed on the quality of the book in
general and the quality of the graphics.
Although I can't read the Japanese characters, I
could easily follow where each chapter began and also appreciated the
nice way he had outlined the various letters written by the Commodore
and others that were reproduced. One figure that I was especially
interested in locating was the lithograph of the "Public Bath at
Shimoda" that the new book has reproduced on page 275. This
indicates that the publisher’s original copy in English was one of the
first published, as the U.S. Congress withdrew that picture early in
the printing process as they thought it was not in good taste due to
nudity. That picture is not in my copy (that I received as a
wedding present from my cousin Louise DeWolf in 1966) and I understand
from antique book dealers that copies with the picture are worth much
more money. It is interesting to think how much we have changed
our morals in the U.S. when you consider what is printed in books today
and also distributed on the internet. Although Commodore Perry
was very impressed with his visit to Shimoda and the people there, he
does write some rare disparaging remarks in the text near where this
picture was printed.
When speaking of the people of Shimoda, Japan, after
his 1854 visit to this town, Commodore Perry wrote the following in his
journal: "The people have all the characteristic courtesy and
reserved but pleasing manners of the Japanese. A scene at one of
the public baths, where the sexes mingled indiscriminately, unconscious
of their nudity, was not calculated to impress the Americans with a
very favorable opinion of the morals of the inhabitants. This may
not be a universal practice throughout Japan, and indeed is said by the
Japanese near us not to be; but the Japanese people of the inferior
ranks are undoubtedly, notwithstanding their moral superiority to most
oriental nations, a lewd people. Apart from the bathing scenes,
there was enough in the popular literature, with its obscene pictorial
illustrations, to prove a licentiousness of taste and practice among a
certain class of population that was not only disgustingly intrusive,
but disgracefully indicative of foul corruption."
Wow, these were very strong comments. At that
time our nations had very different opinions of the civility of each
country and the people. Fortunately, over time we realized it is
not so much the variation between the two cultures, but the greater
variation within each culture. I feel this book will be a great
addition to the libraries in Japan so persons can gain a better
perspective on the purpose of the trip to Japan by the U.S. fleet under
the command of Commodore Perry, but also hopefully will get a better
understanding of the value of each other's culture, from the past and
in the present, so that we can be better neighbors on the world stage
and share our similar fundamental values.
An example of how we can change our attitude with
better education occurred last summer when I was in Japan. I met
a Japanese college student at an international exchange
reception. In very good English she stated to me that she had
written a report on Commodore Perry in high school and then stated
strongly that she “did not like him.” However, in college she had
studied him more extensively and now thought he was a “great
man.” I also could see attitude changes with our American
travelers and with myself during the trip as we learned more about each
other’s cultures.
The public bath issue in Japan had first kindled my
interest when I read an article in the Lexus car magazine in 2004 by
Rolf Potts, who had traveled throughout Japan to sample the many types
of public baths and learn more of the value that the baths had to the
Japanese. He emphasized that the natural hot springs (onsens)
originated from the volcanic activity of the islands and that
originally the Japanese would travel great distances to use these
springs as baths for medicinal purposes. The author emphasized
that the baths were for soaking and not cleansing, and in fact it is
imperative by custom to clean the body thoroughly before soaking in a
public bath.
Over the years public baths in Japan had become a tradition that whole
families enjoyed and the mental benefits of relaxation and family
bonding had became more important than the unknown physical benefits to
the body. Baths had been installed in hotels, which made them
more available throughout Japan to all travelers, even in areas where
the natural baths were not available. In the Lexus article the
author stated that public baths were a mixed-gender affair until
Commodore Perry made it a moral issue, resulting in public baths for
both sexes becoming less common in Japan. This greatly surprised
me as, although I was aware on the disparaging comments the Commodore
had made about nude bathing of both sexes, in all the biographies I had
read about the Commodore, no one had ever connected him with a change
in Japanese culture in regard to public baths. I have chatted
with several Japanese/Americans about this issue reported in the Lexus
magazine, but have not found any substantiation to the reporters
claim. The magazine never responded to my request for more
documentation.
In July 2009, I traveled to Japan as part of the Manjiro-Whitfield
International Exchange program and had my first experience with
Japanese public baths. The major difference with public baths in
Japan, compared to the western world and places like the Blue Lagoon in
Iceland, is that in Japan public baths are conducted in the nude.
Although mixed gender bath houses exist in Japan, the major hotels have
separate bath areas for males and females.
When I arrived at our first hotel in Matsushima I learned that there
was a bath in the hotel and I was anxious to experiment. My
roommate, Bhaird Campbell, was from Boston and was special assistant to
the President of the Japan Society of Boston. He spoke fluent
Japanese and was extremely well-versed in Japanese customs. He
told me everything I needed to know about public baths in Japan, but
then told me the most bone-chilling fact - that he was tired, was going
to take a nap, and didn’t want to join me. Whoa, I had go on my
own????!!!! Well, I donned my yukata (informal summer kimono) and
slippers, provided by the hotel, and with a small towel over my
shoulder I headed to the bath area. The towel is more like a wash
cloth, but 2-3 times as long as ours and used more for cleaning not
drying. Drying towels are provided in the bath area.
I had investigated the location of the male bath area earlier and I
knew there was no way to get there without walking through the
lobby. Taking the elevator to the first floor I stepped into the
lobby and feeling totally nude held my head high while walking among
numerous Americans and Japanese that were totally dressed. It was
mid-afternoon and many travelers were just arriving and registering at
the hotel for the reception and the beginning of the international
exchange.
I made it to the bath area without incident, stored my slippers and
yukata, and stepped into another room for an extensive scrub down,
while sitting on a small stool. After feeling cleaner than ever
in my life I gently slipped into the bath (no splashing allowed) and
realized I was the only American there. Later I noticed some of
my traveling partners so felt relieved that I hadn’t violated some rule
and was in the wrong area. The bath area was the size of most
hotel pools, but was only about 18 inches deep, so when sitting on the
bottom just your neck and head are above water. I soaked for
about 30 minutes in several areas of the pool and then reversed the
above process to head back to my hotel room.
The welcoming program was to begin at 4 PM and I was running low on
time. I did not realize that my body temperature was quite so
elevated and as I was walking through the lobby I was perspiring
profusely and had a rosy-red complexion. Ms. Todoroki, who was
making arrangements for the opening ceremony, spotted me and insisted I
had to go talk to the projectionist about my presentation, which was
part of the opening program. Fortunately, after I protested, she
gave me 15 minutes so I could cool down, get out of my yukata, and get
properly dressed. I was to learn later from my roommate that the
yukata like other forms of the kimono is considered appropriate dress
and several persons actually wore them to breakfast after coming from
the public bath. That ended my first experience in a Japanese
public bath. I had several others while in Japan, but none had
the excitement of the first. A Japanese public bath is an
experience that I highly recommend, but be aware the water is very hot
and it is definitely not an experience for modest persons!!!
Matthew C. Perry IV
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