Manjiro Nakahama
- Japan Society of Boston
- 4 hours ago
- 9 min read
A fateful shipwreck is what drastically changed Manjiro Nakahama’s trajectory in life: from a young boy fishing to support his family, to having a pivotal role in the opening of Japan to the rest of the world. In 1827, Nakahama, also referred to as John Manjiro and John Mung, was born to his father Etsusuke, a fisherman, and his mother Shio. However, he lost his father at the age of nine and began working as a fisherman early on to help support his family (Kawai).
The life-changing event came in 1842 when Nakahama, at the age of 14, set out on a fishing trip as part of a small crew. They got caught in the Kuroshio, or Black Current, one of the three largest ocean currents in the world and named for its dark-cobalt blue waters, which, in addition to winds that smashed their sails, split their rudder, and snatched their oars, left Nakahama and the crew adrift and unable to navigate (Millicent Library "Nakahama Manjiro", Uenuma). Eventually, they wrecked on an uninhabited island named Torishima, or Bird Island. Their time on the island was rough, and over the next few months they lived on a diet mostly consisting of albatross. They eventually spotted the John Howland, a New Bedford whaler captained by William Whitfield of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, which rescued them from the island. In the ship’s logbook, Whitfield wrote of the rescue:
Sunday, June 27, 1841.
This day light wind from S. E. Isle in sight at 1 P. M. Sent in two boats to see if there was any turtle, found 5 poor distressed people on the isle, took them off, could not understand anything from them more than that they was hungry. Made the latitude of the isle 3 deg. 31 m. N.
Monday, June 28.
This day light winds from S. E. the island in sight. To the Westward, stood to the S. W. at 1 P. M. landed and brought off what few clothes the five men left (Millicent Library, “The Presentation of a Samurai Sword.”).
However, despite being rescued, the crew were unable to return to Japan due to the country’s stringent isolationist policies at the time. These policies prohibited the Japanese people from leaving and returning to Japan, so Captain Whitfield could not take them home. They instead continued their whaling journey and ended up in Hawaii. Nakahama had become so attached to Captain Whitfield that he begged to be allowed to complete the voyage and come to America (Millicent Library, “The Presentation of a Samurai Sword.”). He had picked up the English language and spoke with considerable facility and his good nature and willingness to work and to learn had endeared him to the Captain and his crew. While the other Japanese crew members chose to remain in Hawaii, Nakahama, whom Whitfield’s crew had started referring to as John Mung, went with Whitfield and his crew to Fairhaven, Massachusetts.
While in Fairhaven, Nakahama was able to become involved in the community. Later, when Captain Whitfield married a second time and established a home on Sconticut Neck, Nakahama became a member of the household. It is significant that he was never regarded as a servant, but rather as a foster son to Captain Whitfield, who encouraged him to attend the private schools of the town and treated him as one of his own family (Millicent Library, “The Presentation of a Samurai Sword.”).
Many people in the community also accepted Nakahama. He attended school, learning to read and write in English, while also delving into the intricacies of navigation and barrel-making, participating in several whaling expeditions, and assisting Mrs. Whitfield on the family farm (Millicent Library, “Nakahama Manjiro”). There was a moment when some community members weren’t accepting of Nakahama, but the Whitfields stood by his side. The teenager’s presence in the Whitfield family church pew had elicited suggestions that he should sit with Black congregants, but the captain refused, and the Whitfields soon left to instead join a Unitarian church, which they attended alongside a prominent community member named Warren Delano II (Uenuma). “I well remember my grandfather telling me all about the little Japanese boy who went to school in Fairhaven and who went to church from time to time with the Delano family,” wrote then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Nakahama’s eldest son, Toichiro Nakahama, in 1933.
Even though he was far away from home with no way to return to Japan without risking death, Nakahama still felt homesick. According to Job C. Tripp, a classmate of Nakahama, he once found Nakahama crying into the remnants of a kimono made for him by his mother (Uenuma). Eventually the homesickness became too much and Nakahama decided to risk returning to Japan.
In 1846, he found work on a whaling ship to the Pacific where he visited his former crewmates that had stayed in Hawaii and learned that they had since tried—and failed—to gain entry back into Japan (Kingdon), but Nakahama was determined to try again. A fortuitous gold rush in California offered the possibility of quick wealth and the money they’d need for passage. Once Nakahama had the money, he was able to get passage that brought himself and his crewmates close to Japan’s shores.
They landed in the southern part of what is now Okinawa in 1851, prepared to face a serious crime (Kawai). It wasn’t long until they were arrested for violating the isolationist laws. During his detention in Nagasaki, Nakahama, as a Japanese who had been to America, naturally attracted a great deal of attention, so eager crowds anxious to hear of his adventures would come by, and he lost no opportunity to recount the virtues and the kindness of the Americans (Millicent Library, “The Presentation of a Samurai Sword.”).
The country’s isolation that had been established for over 200 years brought a unique issue to the forefront: Japanese officials found it difficult to understand Nakahama and his companion's stories because they often contained unfamiliar concepts (Millicent Library, “Nakahama Manjiro”). Artist and scholar Kawada Shoryo was brought in to help in understanding these concepts. He was assigned to transcribe and illustrate what Nakahama was talking about, which was then made into 4-volume set called Hyoson Kiryaku.
It took time, but Nakahama was eventually able to reunite with his family. After being investigated for long periods by the Satsuma domain, which ruled the Ryukyu Islands (now Okinawa), and the Nagasaki Magistrate's Office, Manjiro was finally able to meet his mother in his hometown of Tosa in 1853 for the first time in 12 years (Kawai).
It took 10 years before the Whitfields heard from Nakahama again. A letter finally came in 1860 describing his fortunes in picturesque language (Millicent Library, “The Presentation of a Samurai Sword.”). He had embraced his experiences abroad, adopted the path of a samurai, acquired a surname, and even assumed the role of a professor at what would later become Tokyo University (Millicent Library, “Nakahama Manjiro”). However, when Japan was opening its ports, it became a pivotal moment for Nakahama and the country as a whole.
Nakahama’s experience abroad became key when Commodore Matthew Perry’s ships arrived in Japan. Nakahama's rise to prominence in his home country stemmed from his knowledge of the English language, familiarity with American culture, and expertise in the whaling and ship industries (Uenuma). It also coincided with a U.S. effort to push for trade with and resupply ports in Japan in line with America’s own national expansion.
However, a unique challenge arose due to Nakahama's ability to communicate in a language other Japanese didn't understand. Samuel H. Yamashita, a historian at Pomona College, said after Perry’s arrival, “[Nakahama] was called up, but there was some suspicion that [because] he was so fluent and seemed so familiar and easy with the Americans, he might be a spy (Uenuma).” The veil of mistrust wasn't just metaphorical, Nakahama would provide interpretation and advice while hidden from sight behind a screen, but nonetheless, it was said that he had a role in vouching for Perry behind the scenes.
Nakahama was able to return to Fairhaven in 1870. He had been sent on a diplomatic mission to Europe by the Japanese government to study military science during the Franco-Prussian War (Millicent Library, “The Presentation of a Samurai Sword.”). After returning from London, he had a mild cerebral hemorrhage and collapsed. He recovered soon after, but he did not take a leading role in politics thereafter and spent his final years in a very quiet manner compared to the turbulent first half of his life (Tosashimizu City Hall). During this time, he returned several times to visit his elderly mother who died of illness at the age of 86 in 1879. At the time of his own death, Nakahama was a man of modest means, living quietly in the care of his sons (Uenuma). He died in 1898 at the home of his oldest son, Toichiro Nakahama, in Tokyo.
Manjiro Nakahama and his accomplishments are still celebrated today both in Japan and the United States. The most influential moment of Nakahama’s life was his involvement in the opening of Japan’s ports to the outside world. From a 14-year-old fisherman stranded on an uninhabited island to a man influential in the diplomacy between Japan and the outside world, Nakahama's influence lives on in the continued relations between the U.S. and Japan.
“When John Manjiro returned to Japan,” said United States President Calvin Coolidge decades later, “it was as if America had sent its first ambassador (Uenuma).” It has even gone beyond diplomacy. In Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, published in 1851, the same year Nakahama arrived back on Japanese soil under threat of arrest, Melville wrote, “If that double-bolted land, Japan, is ever to become hospitable, it is the whale-ship alone to whom the credit will be due; for already she is on the threshold” (Uenuma).
In 1918, 20 years after Nakahama's death, the Fairhaven Select Board received word that Viscount Ishii, Japanese ambassador to the United States would be visiting Fairhaven to present a samurai sword, a gift from Dr. Toichiro Nakahama, Manjiro's eldest son (Millicent Library, “Nakahama Manjiro”). The presentation took place on July 4 in front of Town Hall and among those in attendance was New Bedford Mayor Charles Ashley and the grandson of Captain William Whitfield, Thomas Whitfield, who accepted the sword. Also in attendance was then-Lieutenant Governor and future President, Calvin Coolidge, who gave the welcome address.
The sword, a 14th century Tachi sword worn in court ceremonies, was displayed at the Millicent Library until 1977 when it was stolen and never recovered (Millicent Library, “Nakahama Manjiro”). Several years later, Dr. Tadashi Kikuoka of Seton Hall University began raising funds to replace the sword, which was eventually successful and, on June 12, 1982, he presented Fairhaven with a replacement Samurai sword. By 1987, Fairhaven and New Bedford had established a sister city relationship with Nakahama’s hometown (now known as Tosashimizu). In attendance was then-Crown Prince Akihito.
The Nakahama and Whitfield families have maintained a relationship after Manjiro Nakahama’s death. The relationship continued through the postwar period and continues to this day, spanning five generations (Kawai). In 1940, just before the outbreak of war between Japan and the United States, the fourth generation Whitfield family and Commodore Perry's grandson came to Japan on a special mission from President Roosevelt, and three families, including the Nakahama family, gathered.
2027 will mark the 200th anniversary since Manjiro Nakahama’s birth and materials are being compiled into a database, keeping his life and legacy alive in the modern world.
Further Reading
The Life and Times of John Manjiro by Donald R. Bernard (1992)
Drifting Toward the Southeast by Ikaku Kawada (2003)
A Shortcut to Anglo-American Dialogue translated by Manjiro Nakahama (1859)
Shipwrecked!: The True Adventures of a Japanese Boy by Rhoda Blumberg (2001)
The Life of Nakahama Manjiro by Akira Nakahama (2024) (JP)
Related Media
Log of a whaling trip of Manjiro Nakahama who was in attendance in 1846, https://whalinghistory.org/?s=AC052241
John Manjiro's Adventure, a history of Manjiro Nakahama that includes Nakahama’s own logs, https://www.archives.go.jp/exhibition/digital/hyoryu/contents/05.html
John Manjiro Memorial Orchestra, https://www.johnmanjiro-memorial-orchestra.net/english/about-john-manjiro/
Manjiro Foundation, http://www.manjiro.or.jp/e/foundation/manjiro.html
Nakahama Manjiro International Association, https://kotocommu.net/G0000075/
Statue of Manjiro by NHK, a video broadcasted in 2010 (in Japanese),
Visit
John Mung Museum in Tosashimizu, Kochi, Japan, https://www.johnmung.info/
John Manjiro Statue in Tosashimizu, https://hata-kochi.jp/spot/spot102.html
Works Cited
Kawai, Ryusuke. “No. 61: John Manjiro’s Descendants Speak Out.” Discover Nikkei, 25 Apr. 2025, discovernikkei.org/ja/journal/2025/4/25/nikkei-wo-megutte-61/. Accessed 12 Sept. 2025.
Kingdon, Amorina. “Manjirō Nakahama: From Castaway to Samurai | Hakai Magazine.” Hakai Magazine, 29 June 2015, hakaimagazine.com/article-short/manjiro-nakahama-castaway-samurai/. Accessed 12 Sept. 2025.
The Millicent Library. “Nakahama Manjiro.” Millicentlibrary.org, millicentlibrary.org/NakahamaManjiro. Accessed 12 Sept. 2025.
The Millicent Library. “The Presentation of a Samurai Sword, the Gift of Doctor Toichiro Nakahama, of Tokio, Japan, to the Town of Fairhaven, Massachusetts.” Library of Congress, 1918, www.loc.gov/item/18022468/. Accessed 12 Sept. 2025.
Tosashimizu City Hall. “The History of John Manjiro.” Kochi.jp, www.city.tosashimizu.kochi.jp/kanko/g01_jyonman03.html. Accessed 12 Sept. 2025.
Uenuma, Francine. “The Shipwrecked Teenager Who Helped End Japan’s Isolationist Era.” Smithsonian Magazine, 19 May 2023, www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-shipwrecked-teenager-who-helped-end-japans-isolationist-era-180982199/. Accessed 12 Sept. 2025.