HISTORICAL RELATIONS BETWEEN JAPAN AND SCOTLAND at STRATHCLYDE UNIVERSITY

The first known recorded instance of Scottish involvement with Japan comes from a Portuguese Ships log in 1544 , they encountered a ship doing a triangular trade between Korea , Okinawa ( not then a part of Japan) and the Japanese Mainland whose navigator was a "ubiquitous Scotsman".

One very noticeable influence of Japan on Scotland was on the architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh , who was born in the year of the Meiji Restoration as illuminated in this lecture by Glasgow School of Architecture Andrew MacMillan. .(The Japanese portion comes at about the 10 minute mark).One of Mackintoshs most famous pieces of furniture is called the Kimono Desk , based on the Japanese costume of the same name.

The Meiji replaced the Tokugawa Shogunate after decades of civil strife brought about by the crisis caused by the defeat of China by the British in the Opium Wars of the 1840s and 50s.The Tokugawan Foreign policy was isolationist based on the experiences of Foreign invasions from the sea , firstly by the Portuguese ( which was crushed in the 1630s) and latterly by the fear of Spanish Colonisation from Manila which was for a long time one of the largest garrisoned forts in the world.But after the British defeat of the Chinese and the notorious 1853 incident in Tokyo Bay which is referred as the Kurofune War .
The Humiliation of the Japanese by a few American ships sent shockwaves across society about the possibility of an imminent invasion and colonisation by the British and a major debate ensued about the viability of the isolationist policy as a tool to keep out colonialists.The main observation was the inadequacy of the small Japanese ships ( which were the only ones allowed by the regulations and restrictions of the Tokugawa Naval codes governing the design and size of ships) to engage with the larger vessels of the West.Japan had to get access to Western Technology to defend itself from Western domination and so the battle between the old isolationists and those who saw the necessity to access the outer world meshed with the external chess games of the imperial rivals -Britain and France.Britain sided with the Meiji , thinking it would open up Japan to Britains concept of "Free" trade whilst the French back the Tokugawa thinking they would benefit from being the only traders allowed to set up operations in Japan , replacing the Portuguese.The culmination was an "agreement " for the last Tokugawan Emperor to hand over control to the Meiji and in doing so the Japanese outlook to looking for inspiration and culture to China changed course to looking to the West as the inspiration and model to follow in the future, and even though in a later battle the Meiji managed to wrest all powers for themselves there was enough cohesion in Japanese society between the Samurai orders and the new holders under the Meiji to be able to set a course for Japan without making them a colony of either power.Rather sadly , it was this experience of interactions with the colonising powers that give a semblance of inspiration of Japanese regional colonial ambitions in the 1930s.

In 1859 Thomas Glover set up in the trade port of Nagasaki which was open to foreigners , he set up the first Western Style house in the city which is still an attraction to visitors from home and abroad to the city.Glover was among many foreigners that took advantage of the unbalanced , one-sided trade "agreements" that were imposed on the Japanese after the 1853 show of naval force by the Americans.This included , as in the Ottoman lands during the same period , immunity from Japanese law for foreign nationals.Glover was involved in selling arms to certain factions in Japan even though it broke treaty agreements.He was in what may be a convenient paradox for the British as he was exempt from Japanese prosecution and the British failed to apply their obligations to the letter as he was supplying those forces which Britain tacitly supported and would emerge as the Meiji rulers later on.Thomas Glover then enjoyed favourable relations with the Meiji and was close to the founders of the Mitsubishi Corporation in Nagasaki prefecture.

The influence of Glover also allowed the Chushu Five to leave Japan ( it was against the law for Japanese to travel abroad) to study in Britain.Most went to UCL where they were taught by the Scottish descendant ,German educated Professor Alexander Williamson , this is important to note as Oxford and Cambridge at the time were Anglican Universities and most Engineering and Science training was done in German or Scottish- German-orientated Universities following a German or Scottish curriculum.Of these five very influential graduates with a strong Scottish-German training Yamao Yozo went on to study in Glasgows Anderstonian Institute whilst working in the Shipbuilding Industry.After coming back to Japan he set up the Imperial College of Engineering following Scottish teaching and course methods which are still used in the College today.Considered the Father of Japanese Engineering and Technology ,he was also the head of the Japan Engineering Society for almost five decades.

One of the first Principles of the Imperial College was Scotsman Henry Dyer  , who set "The courses Dyer implemented at the ICE required the student to spend two years on general and science subjects, two on technical subjects in the student’s chosen field, and two more on purely practical work.
To provide practical training, Dyer helped set up the Akabane Engineering Works, the largest in the Empire of Japan. Many of the major engineering works carried out in Japan at the end of the 19th century were by his former students, and Dyer also sent many to Glasgow to complete their education.".Once the Japanese students were in Glasgow they saw an important role being played in the Glasgow Shipyards by workers who were Deaf and were also impressed by the standard of schooling for the Blind.This was an important Scottish transference to the Japanese about educating and bringing into the mainstream the Disabled by provision of specialised education facilities.

Another Scot who became "The Father of Japanese Lighthouses" was Richard Brunton
"Brunton was sent from Edinburgh in August 1868 to head the project after being recommended to the Japanese government by the Stevensons, and over seven and a half years designed and supervised the building of 26 Japanese lighthouses in the Western style, along with two lightvessels. (There had been Japanese lighthouses before then, but they were short and squat buildings, such as the old Shirasu lighthouse now in the grounds of Kokura castle in Kitakyushu.) Brunton was accompanied by his wife and two assistants.

The old pre-Brunton Shirasu lighthouse in the grounds of Kokura Castle

Brunton also established a system of lighthouse keepers, modeled on the Northern Lighthouse Board in Scotland.
He was consulted on other engineering projects, and significantly contributed to the waterworks and harbour design in Yokohama, where he is remembered by a commemorative statue. He also helped found Japan's first school of civil engineering."

Alexander Cameron Sim was also an influence on Japanese Pharmaceuticals and introduced the first carbonated drink into Japan , a lemonade which is still popular nationwide today. "In late 1869, he moved to Nagasaki, Japan, where he resided in the treaty port, but moved to Kobe in 1870, where he initially worked as a pharmacist for the foreign firm Llewellyn Shōkai. However, he began his own company, AC Sim Shōkai, later the same year. Sim's company specialized in the import and distribution of medicines and medical supplies. In 1884, Sim introduced a carbonated beverage based on lemonade to the Kobe Foreign Settlement. This drink, called "mabu soda" for "marble soda" due to the marbles placed in the bottle for opening action, soon became very popular with the local Japanese after it was advertised in the Tokyo Mainichi Newspaper as a preventative for cholera. The drink remains a popular soft drink, sold nationwide, under the name of ramune to this day."

The monument above commemorated Sim in the City of Kobe today.

All this development came at a price as foreign influence reduced Japanese Sovereignty and rule of law by treaties that were heavily weighted in the Wests favour in what can be said to be creeping colonisation of trade in which the Japanese would lose the independence of home markets yet only get very little access to lucrative exports in return.Without the power to effect the rule of law in the "free" ports , nor having the right to impose tax duties to protect local traders and finding the Chamber of Commerce to be a conduit to facilitating Western access to Japanese markets rather than an equal partnership body to promote harmonious mutually beneficial trade a lot of mainstream Japanese society and members of the ruling classes new and old reached the conclusion that it was impossible to negotiate with Europe.Ironically , the only antidote to this "soft" colonisation was to Modernise to the extent that Japan could in turn become one of the "West" , a policy that would succeed spectacularly only a few decades later in terms of technological catch-up but would have the seeds of the disasters of the the 30s and 40s as a sad termination of playing the colonial chess-game.

One such mission that failed spectacularly politically , but sowed the seeds to a successful boost to modernise was the Iwakura Mission of the early 1860s
"The purposes of the mission were twofold:

1. To renegotiate the unequal treaties with the United States, Great Britain and other European countries that Japan had been forced into during the previous decades.
2. To gather information on education, technology, culture, and military, social and economic structures from the countries visited in order to effect the modernization of Japan.

Of these two goals, the first one failed universally, prolonging the mission by almost a year, but also impressing the importance of the second goal on its members. The attempts to negotiate new treaties under better conditions with the foreign governments led them to go beyond the mandates set by the Japanese government, which caused friction between the mission and the government."

On visiting Glasgow the mission members declared the West End Park ( Kelvingrove) to be " the most beautiful in Europe".

Kaichi Watanabe has a connection to Scotland own grand work of heavy engineering , The Forth Rail Bridge , he was involved in the design and appeared in this famous photo at the time demonstrating the Cantilever Bridge Model as seen in the picture below

Not to be outdone in the fields of Engineering and Technology Aikitu Tanakadate was considered "The father of Science" in Japan as well as the Founder of the Institute of Seismology at Tokyo University , he was trained in Glasgow University under the tutelage of Lord Kelvin.

Te period  of the early Meiji was not one to be confused with a one-way process of Scots giving to Japan.In fact , the Japanese contribution to Scottish arts and outlook as well as the modern Scottish Consciousness is one of the most overlooked yet unique contributions to how we are today in the things we see, do and are proud of.This video gives an excellent synopsis of the Japanese influence to the modern Scottish architectural and cultural "National" heritage that we unwittingly regard as uniquely Scottish.