John Mung Museum — Attraction in Tosashimizu

I came to know John Manjiro from my host family in Tokyo some years ago. At that time, my Japanese language ability was extremely limited, so they gave me a bilingual book of the life and adventure of John Mung. It piqued me an interest to visit Tosa Shimizu someday if I had a chance, which actually did happen.

Note that the museum's location doesn't exactly where John Mung was from - his hometown of Nakahama village is several kilometer east of Shimizu town. Basically at the other opposite of the town. There is a bus (heading for Sukumo) from downtown Shimizu, but the frequency left a lot to be desired, so beware of the timetable.

I didn't realize how eventful his life really was. Even at the time of his childhood, he wandered ~90 km from Tosa Shimizu to Usa Port at the outskirt of present-day city of Kochi to escape from his hometown. Not to mention him being stranded in an inhabited island afterwards, and the rest is history. It's very interesting to see the dynamics and changes during the transition of feudal Tokugawa and early-industrialization Meiji periods through his life.

There is also a cafe and souvenir shop at the first floor that opens at lunch time, but it was closed by the time of my visit. Thus I didn't have a chance to try its menu, because I had to be back at my accommodation to catch bus and train back...

Forget Tom Hanks, this is the story of a true ‘Cast Away!’ Survives 6 months on a desert island eating albatross chicks, gets picked up by a kind Yankee whaler, returns with him to Massachusetts, learns to read and write English (at that time he was illiterate in his own language), becomes an ace whaler and harpooner, joins the Gold Rush, returns to a suspicious xenophobic homeland that locks him up, then becomes an advisor to shoguns and the empire, university don and diplomat. Lives the final 30 years of his life with his son after suffering a stroke. A Japanese export long before the days of Toyota...

The museum went through extensive renovations and reopened in spring 2018. I thought the exhibits were very good and appreciated that a lot of work went into making it good for English speakers. It’s amazing how small coincidences like ship wrecks and being saved from a remote island can greatly influence the course of...