Native American in the Land of the Shogun: Ranald MacDonald and the Opening of Japan [Paperback]

Frederik L. Schodt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2003

How Japan, after 250 years of self--imposed isolation, began the process of modernization is in part the story of Ranald MacDonald. In 1848 this half-Scot, half-Chinook adventurer from the Pacific Northwest landed on an island off Hokkaido. Although promptly arrested and imprisoned for seven months in Nagasaki, the intelligent, well-educated MacDonald fascinated the Japanese and became one of their first teachers of English and Western ways. Based on primary research in Japan and North America, this book chronicles the events leading to MacDonald’s journey and his later struggle to obtain recognition at home.

Frederik L. Schodt has written extensively on Japan, including America and the Four Japans and Inside the Robot Kingdom. Fluent in spoken and written Japanese, he lives in San Francisco. In 2009 he was received the The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette for his contribution to the introduction and promotion of Japanese contemporary popular culture.

"Schodt's account of MacDonald's life and his eventual journey to Japan is depicted with the accuracy of a trained academic and the excitement of a skillful novelist." -- Kyoto Journal

 

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A story that reads like fiction....[Schodt]is particularly well-qualified to discuss Japanese perspectives on MacDonald's story and has uncovered material hitherto untouched by writers on the subject. This is certainly the definitive work on Ranald MacDonald." --Jean Murray Cole, author of This Blessed Wilderness and Exile in the Wilderness: the biography of Chief Factor Archibald McDonald 1790-1853 -- Review

About the Author

Fluent in spoken and written Japanese, Frederik L. Schodt is an author, interpreter, and translator who has written extensively on Japanese culture and Japan-U.S. relations. His classic Manga! Manga! introduced the English-speaking world to Japanese comics culture.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Stone Bridge Press; 1St Edition edition (May 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1880656779
• ISBN-13: 978-1880656778
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,748,688 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Frederik L. Schodt is a writer, translator, and conference interpreter based in the San Francisco Bay area. He has written widely on Japanese history, popular culture, and technology. His writings on manga, and his translations of them, helped trigger the current popularity of Japanese comics in the English-speaking world, and in 2000 resulted in his being awarded the Special Category of the Asahi Shimbun's prestigious Osamu Tezuka Culture Award. In the same year, his translation of Henry Yoshitaka Kiyama's 1931 pioneering graphic novel,_The Four Immigrants Manga_, was selected as a finalist in Pen West USA translation award. In 2009, Fred was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, for his work in helping to promote Japan's popular culture overseas. Also, in the same year he was awarded the "Special" category of the Ministry of Foreign Affair's 3rd International Manga Award.

Fred's WEBSITE-- http://www.jai2.com | TALKS-- http://www.jai2.com/ABE_Talks.htm | BIBLIOGRAPHY-- http://www.jai2.com/Mybiblio.htm

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars another world, December 11, 2003

By 

Blakeslee (Eddor) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Native American in the Land of the Shogun: Ranald MacDonald and the Opening of Japan (Paperback)

Schodt masterfully recreates a time when the west was truly wild, with a group of bizarre characters and a truly unbelieveable protagonist. It is all the more amazing, then, that this is a true story. As in his other books, Schodt has so many interesting asides that even his footnotes read like adventure novels -- I hope he returns one day to write the full story of the Japanese radio operator-girls who committed suicide when the Russians attacked. But back in the world of the 19th century, this story of the Amerindian-Scot who learned Japanese and was one of the first westerners to see the closed land of Japan is truly fascinating. The ideal gift for anyone who thinks they know all about the way the West was won, or indeed, the East.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gripping history with larger-than-life characters, September 21, 2003

By 

"aggleason" (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Native American in the Land of the Shogun: Ranald MacDonald and the Opening of Japan (Paperback)

Schodt has accomplished two things with one book. He has told the tale of a fascinating individual and his adventures in the Orient and elsewhere. And he has also brought to life a unique period in North American history that few of us learn about in school. Although the exploits of McDonald alone make for a great story, what interested me most was the vast historical and geographic tableau the author ambitiously depicts -- one that sprawls over decades and continents and is populated by such colorful characters as John McLoughlin, the virtual emperor of the Pacific Northwest, and James Dickson, the self-styled general of the "Indian Liberating Army," to name just two. The book's portrayal of the Metis culture of the U.S. and Canada in the early 19th century is a compelling story in itself. Coupled with McDonald's remarkable adventures in a Japan that was on the cusp of opening to the West, this makes for a gripping epic. Schodt has done a thorough and eloquent job of bringing it to life. "Native American in the Land of the Shogun" should entertain any history buff as well as satisfy the most discriminating scholar.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing, trailblazing account of one man's achievements, September 21, 2003

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Native American in the Land of the Shogun: Ranald MacDonald and the Opening of Japan (Paperback)

Frederik L. Schodt is an interpreter and translator whose specialty is writing and understanding Japanese culture and Japanese-U.S. relations. In Native American In The Land Of The Shogun: Ranald MacDonald And The Opening Of Japan, Schodt ably presents the fascinating and true account of a half-Chinook, half-Scot adventurer who braved feudal Japan in 1848, when it was still closed to the outside world, and helped establish a legacy of knowledge that would pave the way to Japan's involvement in modern times. It was Ranald MacDonald's study of the Japanese language, and his teaching of English to interpreters of a nation, which helped Japan when the Japanese government had to negotiate with foreign visitors such as Commodore Perry and his fleet of "Black Ships" which arrived in 1853. An amazing, trailblazing account of one man's achievements and the intercultural communications he fostered, Native American In The Land Of The Shogun is an enthusiastically recommended addition to 19th Century Japanese History reference collections and reading lists.