The day was fair, the turn-out was gratifying and the conversation lively at the annual membership meeting of the Friends of MacDonald held in Astoria, OR over the weekend.  We greeted many old friends and welcomed several new members while enjoying a delicious lunch at the “Baked Alaska” restaurant (shameless plug) on the waterfront overlooking the wide mouth of the Columbia River and the blue-green hills of Cape Disappointment and Chief Comcomly’s Chinook territory in Washington — the same view eyed by the likes of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in 1805-06 as well as Ranald’s father, Archibald McDonald in November of 1821, the year he arrived at (then) Fort George.

We were honored to welcome Consul General of Japan in Portland, Takamichi Okabe and his wife, Kozue.  According to Richard Read of the Oregonian newspaper, Mr. Okabe spent three months in Baghdad as an involuntary “guest” of Saddam Hussein during 1990, when Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait. [He had been serving as first secretary in Japan’s embassy in Kuwait.] During his next foreign assignment – in Kenya – Mr. Okabe and a colleague braved warfare in Somalia to investigate opportunities for humanitarian aid there. Later in Nepal, Mr. Okabe was posted in Kathmandu when members of the royal family were massacred at the palace.  Most recently Mr. Okabe served four years as Consul General of Japan in Auckland, New Zealand.  In Portland, he is joined by his wife, Kozue, and we all hope that Mr. and Mrs. Okabe will have the opportunity to enjoy the peace and beauty of the Pacific Northwest.

FOM was happy that Mac Burns, Executive Director of CCHS was able to take time away from his busy schedule to attend the meeting.  Mac, who was fresh off the “Goonies 25th Anniversary” celebration the week before, noted that over 100 Goonies fans showed up for the grand opening of the Oregon Film Museum in Astoria the previous Saturday, and mentioned that people had come from all over — France, Japan, and from across the United States.  Mac also passed out buttons and other information about the upcoming “Astoria 1811-2011 Bicentennial Celebration” happening next year.  A link to that website can be found here: http://www.astoria200.org/ .  If you have never visited Astoria, FOM encourages you to do so – it is a sleepy little coastal town with a lot of secrets and surprises, not to mention a rich history.

Mr. Tadakazu Kumashiro, Charter Member of the Friends of MacDonald, was also in attendance. After his retirement, Mr. Kumashiro, or “Kuma” (the Bear) as he likes to be called, joined the Peace Corps in 2001 and was stationed in Namibia for a couple of years working for the Namibian government where he promoted AIDS education by visiting schools.  Kuma-san gave talks to students, teachers and school principals about what they should be doing to prevent an AIDS pandemic.  Kuma-san reports that he had to be hospitalized himself four times while he was there – probably, he noted, because of the unfamiliar germs he encountered.  Mr. Kumashiro rather depreciatingly says he thinks he became ill because of his “old age” – he was 67-69 at the time – but having met him myself I have to say he is one of the most vigorous and energetic “seniors” I have ever met [both mentally and physically].

A big “thank you” to Jim Mockford for bringing his laptop so the group could access the new web page. It was the first time most of the FOM members had seen it (we hope it won’t be the last time!)  We all appreciated that the Baked Alaska staff worked so hard to make sure their wireless network was workable for us.  And we missed the presence of Bruce Berney, who was back in Portland celebrating his grandson’s birthday.

During the meeting an interesting, if not recurring, question was presented by Consul General Okabe, e.g., what was the status of Ranald MacDonald’s “citizenship” at the time of his landing on Rishiri Island in 1848?  A second comment [also in the form of a question] was presented by Mr. Okabe and was definitely food for thought – was Ranald MacDonald really the first teacher of English in Japan?

Map of Japan drawn by William Adams, circa 1600

The Consul General’s second question referred to one William Adams, who, as the British pilot major of the Dutch trading ship Liefde (“Love” or “Charity”) landed off the island of Kyushu in April 1600.  [The true story of Will Adams was the basis of the romantic novel Shogun, written by James Clavell and published in 1975; Adams’ adventures were also documented in the historical novel Daishi-san written by Robert Lund in 1961.]  According to one source “ … soon after Adams’ arrival in Japan, he became a key advisor to the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu and built for him Japan’s first Western-style ships. Adams was later the key player in the establishment of trading factories (in Japan) by the Netherlands and England. He died in Japan at age 55, and has been recognized as one of the most influential foreigners in Japan during this period.^”

William Adams – known in Japan as Miura Anjin –  may have been the first Englishman [Briton] to set foot in Japan; from historical information [including writings from Adams’ own journal] it seems likely that it was the Anjin who needed an interpreter [the ever-present Portuguese Jesuits, in this case] to make himself understood. Prudence dictates that circumstances – and the Japanese people – taught their language to Will Adams, rather than the other way around.

Regarding Ranald MacDonald being the first American to “set foot in Japan” [the way Will Adams was the first Englishman to do so] we know this just isn’t so.  There were Americans who had visited Nagasaki while in the service of the Dutch during the late 1700’s.  In the mid-1800’s there were scores of American whaling ships in the Sea of Japan, and historical record tells of some crew members that had either been shipwrecked off the Japanese coast or had deserted their vessel to seek their fortunes ashore.  As far as is known, however, Ranald MacDonald was the first American to intentionally go to Japan for the express purpose of learning about the Japanese people and their language and to teach English to them, and to perhaps ‘work’ as an interpreter.  As to the question of Ranald’s citizenship, regardless of the fact that Fort George was under a British flag in 1824, it cannot be denied that half of Ranald’s DNA came from a Chinook Indian mother, a fact that made him a truer “American” than any geographical accident of birth.  Later in his life, through both choice and residence, MacDonald became sufficiently “American” enough to justify that we may say that Ranald MacDonald was the first American to leave his mark upon the people and the nation of Japan, and the first native-English-speaking individual to teach the English language there.

***

朝の通勤途中で道路際に咲く紫のチシマフウロを見つけた。4月はじめの花は瀬の低い花たち。6月になると野の草の背丈が高くなるので花たちも背の高い花が咲く。チシマフウロの群落から、それを撮るかなどと、楽しみながらカメラを向ける。

On my way to work I found clumps of purple Chishima Fuuro [Geranium erianthum] on the road side.  In early April they are relatively short plants, but by the time June comes the wild grasses are growing much taller, and the Chishima Fuuro, not to be outdone, grows taller as well. For several moments I concentrate on which flowers to photograph, forgetting that time is passing while I make up my mind.

~photo by Eiji Nishiya,Rishiri Island, FOM Japan

~~~ excerpt from Gates Ajar, Summer 1993, Fifth Anniversary Edition

When Ranald MacDonald died in 1894, whispering “Sayonara”, the Japanese word for farewell, he had spent less than 10 months of his life within the bristling island fortress that was mid-19th century Japan.  Consideration should therefore be given the other 822 months which made up Ranald’s adventure-laden 70 years.  He spent his first 10 years at the rugged Pacific Northwest outposts of the Hudson’s Bay Company; then five years at school at Red River; a dozen years at sea (with time out in Japan and the Australian gold fields); and some 30 years in Canada before returning to Fort Colville, Washington Territory, in 1882.

During the three Canadian decades, Ranald ranched, mined, ran a ferry, ran pack trains, explored . . .

Ranald MacDonald also secured permission from the government of British Columbia to build a 200-mile toll road (a cent and a half a pound for all goods transported, a half-dollar per head for cattle) for pack trains from the Bella Coola inlet on North Bentinck Arm to the Fraser River, and a steamer connection to the Cariboo gold fields.  Ranald’s half-brother, Benjamin, thought “capitalists of San Francisco” were involved in the project.

The sophisticated prospectus signed by Ranald and his partner, John Barnston, deserves our attention.  Certainly Ranald must have played a key role in creating the prospectus, based as it was upon both a careful exploration of the proposed route and a thorough-going knowledge of the requirements of miners during a gold rush.  In a report he points out that the town site at the head of the inlet had a safe harbor, superior timber, fisheries, nearby copper deposits, and agricultural potential.

In the prospectus, the technique with which hot buttons are pushed would do credit to a good marketing vice president today.  It points out that, compared with contemporary Douglas and Lillooette routes, the proposed road would save 158 miles, cut almost a quarter the “transhipments (sic) and detentions” costing miners time and money, save passengers at least 12 days, land goods 10 to 15 days earlier . . .

Unfortunately, the estimated gain of $66,000 in the first six months may have failed to materialize.  ” . . . Ranald’s grant was small, simply for a pack trail,” Benjamin recalled, and someone more influential persuaded the government into building a wagon road.  Ranald finally built a trail but never got a steamer connection.  He had a few things shipped in but the wagon road took all the business”.

It seems likely that the “wagon road” which so blighted Ranald’s hopes was the Cariboo Wagon Road (now part of the trans-Canada Highway) supported by British Columbia Governor James Douglas, who said he wanted to secure “the whole trade of the colony for Fraser’s River” and prevent “all attempts at competition from Oregon”.

~~ Barbara Peeples.  Sources:  Prospectus on file in the Provincial Archives of British Columbia; books: Ranald MacDonald: The Narrative of His life, 1824-1894; The Great Northwest, by Oscar Osburn-Winther; Caesars of the Wilderness, by Peter C. Newman; Benjamin’s narrative, from Jean Murray Cole’s family collection.

~reprinted from Gates Ajar, Spring 1992

Almost (120) years ago, Ranald MacDonald took pen in hand to correct an article in the Spokane (Washington) Review. He sent his correction, however, [not to the Spokane Review but] to his local newspaper, The Kettle Falls Pioneer, where it won front page coverage on May 12, 1892.  This ‘letter to the editor’ revealed something of Ranald’s style (concerned historians will note that Ranald added his own disclaimer.)  The column was headed:  “HISTORIC APPLE TREES, A Few Facts Penned by Mr. Ranald MacDonald”.

Here is a portion of the “offending” story Ranald felt compelled to refute:

“The Washington State Historical Society is doing very valuable work, and has much more to do.  Among other things demanding its attention should be the removal to one of the public parks in Tacoma of those two old historic apple trees now growing at old Fort Nisqually.  Those threes are the first apple trees planted in the northwest, at least north of the Columbia.  On November 1, 1834 it was planted in a hotbed by Archie McDonald. Nicknamed “Sleepy” McDonald, and the following spring the twigs were transplanted to the ground where they now stand at old Fort Nisqually.  McDonald was one of the chief clerks of the Hudson Bay Company, and was sent from Vancouver by the good Dr. McLaughlin to found Fort Nisqually.  In England in 1833 the captain of an English ship was given a grand dinner on the eve of his departure for the wild wilderness of the northwest.  In eating an apple a lady carefully saved its seeds, presented them to the captain, and requested him to have them planted in the new world.  These were the seeds planted at old Fort Nisqually.  The two trees they produced stand about a mile off the main road between Tacoma and Olympia, the location of Nisqually having been changed from its original site …”   ~Spokane Review

And so Ranald wrote:

“OLD FORT COLVILLE

MARCUS P.O., WASH.

EDITOR PIONEER: –The above interesting paragraph, having the ring and spice of romance, I fear will not bear the cold facts of history.  I will be brief:  Mr. Archibald MacDonald, stationed at Fort Langley on the Fraser River, received his parchment or commission while there; was then assigned to Fort Colville; the family, I believe, left Langley in 1833 in a bateau to reach Colville for the second time; coasted down Puget Sound, going ashore every night to camp; in due course arrived at Nisqually and camped on the beach at the mouth of a creek which I suppose to be the Sequalichew; here we laid over, Mr. MacDonald, inspecting the country.  I remember (him) taking me and a younger brother to view the beautiful, park-like country covered with green and luxuriant grasses, and remember him saying is was just the country for cattle and sheep, and pointing to the running stream that could be utilized for milling purposes … Then Mr. MacDonald and the late Sir James Douglas and party was sent to build Fort Nisqually … with a view of making it the headquarters of the future Puget Sound Agricultural Company …

I have never heard Mr. Archie MacDonald called “Sleepy” or nicknamed; if so he must have slept with one eye open, for he was quick to see, act with energy and prompt to execute.  The mistake may arise from the fact that there were three Angus MacDonalds – one was called ‘Sleepy’, one ‘Holey’, and the other ‘Glencoe’ – this I have been credibly informed by satisfactory evidence now living; but this was a long time after the founding of Nisqually, so this Sleepy McDonald could not be connected with the “Historic Apple Trees”.

The first apple trees planted and bearing fruit was at old Fort Vancouver north of the Columbia (river), where the Hudson Bay Company had a large garden under the care and management of a careful and intelligent Scotsman by the name of Mr. Bruce, who sometimes would cut an apple and give the boys a taste …

What I have some doubt is with respect to dates not having the journals by me, but note this from memory.

~RANALD MacDONALD, a Pro-Pioneer”

[Editor’s note:  Although specific details vary, the story of apple seeds traveling from a London dinner party to Fort Vancouver is a well-known story.  Vancouver’s “Old Apple Tree” still stands today and bears fruit, as it has for more than 150 years (more than 170 years to date!), not far from the site of the restored Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River.]

The annual Old Apple Tree Festival is typically held on the first Saturday in October from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Old Apple Tree Park, located on Columbia Way, just east of Interstate 5 Bridge. The festival focuses on environmental education and historic preservation with Heritage Tree walks, Historic Clark County tours, Birds of Prey show, scavenger hunts along the waterfront trail, kids’ activities, and much more. As a bonus, the Urban Forestry Commission gives away state-grown apples, as well as tree cuttings from the Old Apple Tree to each visitor.

Skunk Cabbage, or “mizu bashou” in Japanese, is a harbinger of spring in Japan and is much-loved by Japanese people.  This photo was taken on Rishiri Island, late-April, 2010.

photo by Eiji Nishiya, FOM Japan ~~ Rishiri Island

アメリカ大陸に最初に足跡を残した日本人は誰？・・・という事は、アメリカ大陸に立った最初の日本人は誰？・・・という質問になる。 多くのお方は土佐藩（今の高知県）出身の中浜 万次郎こと、ジョン・万次郎と答えるであろう。 それは１８４１年の出来事であった。 しかし、史実はこれを正解としない。 実はその７年前の１８３４年、愛知県知多郡小野浦から三吉と呼ばれる三人の船乗り（音吉、岩吉、久吉）が今のワシントン州オリンピック半島の海岸、ケープ・アラバに漂着しているのである。

１８３２年１１月３日、三吉たち１４人を乗せた千石船、宝順丸は米や陶器を積み込み、目的 地江戸へ向かって伊勢湾の鳥羽を出港した。しかし、その途中遠州灘で暴風雨に遭い、宝順丸の舵が折れ航路コントロールが不可能となる。１４ヶ月間と言う長期にわたり太平洋上を漂流の末、宝順丸はやがてケープ・アラバに漂着したのであった。当初１４人居た乗り組み員は、途中、飢餓や壊血病で倒れ、生き残ったのは音吉、岩吉、久吉の三人だけになってしまった。三人はそこで捕鯨部族として知られていたマカー・インディアンに救助され今で言う“ホーム・ステイ”を４ヶ月余体験、健康を回復した。その後、三吉達は、コロンビア河向こうのバンクーバーに在る（現在の国立史跡公園）フォート・バンクーバーへ連れて来られ、そこで約１３ヶ月間過ごし英語のレッスンを受け、やがて英国経由鎖国令の布かれている日本へ・・・の送還を試みられるのである。【この史実、特に音吉の歩んだ道はこの後意外な展開を遂げる。ご興味をお持ちのお方は角川文庫の三浦綾子著“海嶺”をご一読されたい。】

さて、アメリカへ来た最初の日本人は誰だったかご理解頂いたと思うので、次に逆の質問、所謂、（日本行きを目的とし）日本へ最初に行ったアメリカ人は誰？・・・と、問うて見たい。

１８５３年、時の徳川幕府に「開国！」を迫り黒船を率いて浦賀港へやってきたペリー提督・・・？　 答えは「No！」 正解はラナルド・マクドナルド（当時２４歳）。　更に、驚く無かれ、彼はオレゴニアンであった。ラナルドは、コロンビア河の河口、アストリアのフォート・ジョージで１８２４年２月３日、スコットランド人アーチボルド・マクドナルドを父に、コロンビア下流地帯のインディアン、チヌーク族の大酋長コム・コムリの次女コアール・クソアを母として産声を上げた。ラナルドは、少年時代にフォート・バンクーバーに滞在していた日本人、三吉達の瞳、髪の毛、皮膚の色等、インディアンに似ているという話を聞き、（別な説は、少年ラナルドが三吉達を見た・・・とか、三吉達と短期間ではあったが交流の機会があった・・・とも言われているが、その史実は疑わしい）又、インディアン部族の長老間で、先祖達がアジアからアラスカを経てアメリカ大陸へやってきたという言い伝えを耳にした事もあった事から、彼らインディアンと日本人の先祖は同じかもしれない・・・と、少年ラナルドは日本、日本人に対する異常なほどの興味と憧れを抱き始めた。

１８４７年暮、２３歳に成長したラナルドはハワイでアメリカの捕鯨船プリマス号の平船員となり、捕鯨船が世界中から集まっていた日本近海への出港の第一関門をクリアした。その後数ヶ月間、類の無いほどの大漁獲を収めたプリマス号での捕鯨の仕事に汗を流したラナルドは、報酬の代わりに小船と食料、水を事前約束通りエドワード船長から譲り受け、いよいよ単身日本上陸を目指すのであった。 それは１８４８年、ラナルドが満２４歳の時であった。

彼は、鎖国令が布かれている日本に上陸するのは、命がけである事は十分承知していた。少しでもその危険性を和らげる為、ラナルドは万国共通の“人情”に訴える作戦に出た。 北海道利尻島の海辺の村落、野塚に近付いた海上で遭難を偽装したのだ。その作戦は見事功を奏し、案の定、海岸に居たアイヌ達が２艘の小船で救助に来てくれた。

こうして、オレゴニアンのラナルド・マクドナルドは鎖国中の日本への入国を果たした。だが、オランダ人と中国人、それも長崎の出島以外では交易を認めていなかった徳川幕府としては、ラナルドを密入国者として捕らえ約３ヶ月間掛け、船で身柄を長崎へ送り、そこの大悲庵と称する座敷牢に軟禁した。しかし、ラナルドの日本人や日本文化に対する尊敬の念と日本語を学ぼうとする誠意溢れる人柄が役人に認められ、出島のオランダ語専門通詞達１４人が、大悲庵に通うようになった。そこで通詞達は彼に日本語を教え、彼から英語を学ぶ・・・という日常が始まったのだ。これは、ラナルドがアメリカへ強制送還されるまでの約７ヶ月間続いた。

これが日本での英語教育のはじまり・・・であり、現在ではオレゴン出身のラナルド・マクドナルドが“日本で最初の英語教師”として位置付けされている。 更に、その５年後、１８５３年にペリー提督が黒船を率いて徳川幕府に開国を迫る交渉に来る訳だが、その時日本側の首席通訳の大任を果たした森山 栄之助は、マクドナルドの大悲庵に通った１４人の通詞の一人であった。

【 このマクドナルドに関する史実は、近年日本の中学及び高校の英語教科書でも教材の一部として取り上げられているばかりか、日・英両語で幾つかの本が出版されている。 その中で最も代表的な日本語の本は、文春文庫の吉村 昭著“海の祭礼”であろう。】

ここにラナルドが日本（大悲庵）で密かに纏めた和英語彙集の中から、幾つかを紹介する。ここで留意しなくてはならないのは、マクドナルドは、彼が耳にした日本語を英語の言葉の発音に置き換えて彼なりにメモした事である。所謂、ローマ字発音にこだわると、マクドナルドが意図した発音と異なるケースが多々あるので気を付けなければならない。 例えば、meme であるが、ローマ字発音ではメメとなる。しかし、マクドナルドが意図した発音はミミ〔耳〕なのである。英語でme〔私〕という単語があるが、マクドナルドが聞いた日本語はミミ、即ちme ミーを二度繰り返したmeme　ミーミー(耳)　であった。Keno も同様に、ローマ字発音ではヶノであるが、マクドナルドが聴いた言葉は、キノ、すなわちキノー（昨日）だったのである。　基本的に、eの発音は、エ　ではなく英語ではイー。　アルファベットは A・B・C・D・E・F・・・と続くが、これは、エイ・ビー・シー・ディー・イー・エフ・・・と、発音するのはご存知の通り。

catana – 刀: sword

meme – 耳: ear

oy – 甥: nephew

nom – 飲む: drink

omereto – おめでとう: congratulations

beging – 美人: beautiful lady

sheo – 塩: salt

keno – きのう: yesterday

emoto – 妹: younger sister

sinara – さいなら: good bye

rogin – 老人: old man

eye-nose – アイヌ: Ainu

oboyewarii – 覚え悪りい: forgetful (bad at remembering)

この他にも簡単な日本語（長崎弁）会話を含んだマクドナルド自身による手書きの語彙集の現物は、カナダのヴィクトリアB.C.図書館に保管されている。

マクドナルド友の会* 会長 　　　　谷田部 勝

*マクドナルド友の会は、より多くの方々にラナルド・マクドナルドに関する素晴らしい史実を知ってもらおうとの主旨から、今から２１年前、当時ポートランド商工会理事であり、エプソン・ポートランド社社長であった故冨田 正勝氏等が中心となり、クラッツァップ郡歴史協会の下部組織として創設されたものである。

日の入り。

久しぶりにきれいに見えた。

気になるのが、水平線上にある雲への日の入り。

観天望気、晴かそれとも強風・雨・曇か。

気象台の天気予報は「西の風 やや強く 晴れ 朝晩 くもり」。

春来となっても、冷えを感じる強風が続く。

A beautiful sunset !
It’s been a while.
The strong West-wind keeps whipping, bringing shivers.
Though Spring has come (to the island)
A small patch of clouds above the water worries me.
Weather tomorrow will be sunny? cloudy? or rainy?

~poem & photo by Eiji Nishiya, April 2010

by FOM Chairman Mas Yatabe

After visiting Nagasaki in January of 2009 – where Ranald MacDonald first taught English – I had a strong urge to make my own pilgrimage to Rishiri Island, to the spot where Ranald first set foot on the soil of Japan. When an opportunity presented itself during a business trip in July, I felt that I could afford to take a side-visit to Rishiri, though I knew the time I could spend there would be very limited.

I left my hometown of Tatebayashi in Gunma Prefecture around 7:30 in the morning and after a couple of transfers I got on the Tohoku Line of the Shinkansen [bullet train] in Tokyo – which rather quickly arrived at its northernmost stop in Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture. However, it was almost 7:30 pm by the time I finally arrived in Sapporo where I was met by my long-time friend, Katsu Yamazaki [one of the FOM’s charter members. Mr. Yamazaki became a member of the Friends of MacDonald when he was assigned to lead the Portland office of Itogumi Corporation of Hokkaido back in the 1980’s.] Even though the hour was late, because my time was short Mr. Yamazaki suggested that we drive north as far as we could that same night.

After driving several hours in the rain along a dark two-lane road, it must have been around midnight that we arrived at a little town called Teshio, and we were on the road again by 6:00 am the next morning, heading toward our destination of Wakkanai. [An interesting side note is that Wakkanai and Portland are on the same latitude.] We arrived early enough that we actually had to wait for the ferry, which was to leave the Port of Wakkanai at 7:50 am for Oshidomari, the only Port on Rishiri Island. We arrived at Oshidomari around 9:30 am, which gave us just about an hour and a half to explore before we had to catch our return ferry at 11 am. A very tight schedule, indeed!

Map of Rishiri Island. Looks like a cartoon but it’s not.

Fortunately, Mr. Eiji Nishiya, Curator of the Rishiri Museum and Secretary of FOM Japan, would be waiting for us at the Port of Oshidomari, and was ready to take us to the monument commemorating the spot where MacDonald first landed on Rishiri Island. As we were approaching the island I was thrilled to see Mt. Rishiri appearing and disappearing in the clouds – the very same mountain peak that MacDonald saw almost exactly 171 years ago as he made his approach to Rishiri Island in July of 1848. I have heard it said that MacDonald had perhaps set his course for Rishiri Island [rather than the closer mainland] after sighting Mt. Rishiri, because its appearance reminded him of Mt. Hood – the mountain of his childhood when he was schooled at Fort Vancouver, WA. After viewing both peaks with my own eyes I could certainly understand his nostalgia.

Mt. Rishiri, July 2009 ~~~  photo taken by Eiji Nishiya

I would have loved to have been able to stay for a few hours and explore before returning on the afternoon ferry, but since my schedule was so tight – and in order to return to Sapporo that same evening – we had no choice but to catch the 11:00 am ferry back to Wakkanai. It was a good thing that MacDonald’s monument stood only a few miles from the Port, so Mr. Nishiya was able to get us back to the ferry in short order.

With Mr. Nishiya at the MacDonald “landing site” monument

After taking a couple of photos at the stone monument, Mr. Nishiya drove us a few minutes down the road to a rocky cove where a couple of small boats were beached. It is Mr. Nishiya’s belief that this beach was actually the spot where MacDonald first set foot on Rishiri Island [as opposed to where the monument sits.] Though we were pressed for time, I wanted to put my feet on the rocks where MacDonald stood, so while Mr. Nishiya and Mr. Yamazaki watched and waited up on the hill, I clambered down to the beach, and, like MacDonald, I slipped and fell [and dislocated a finger, incidentally.] As I was climbing back up the hill, I remembered how Ranald had a problem “ascending the steep, rocky bank” in his ‘new’ zori sandals.

The beach where MacDonald landed?

I can now say that I have stood in many of the key places that MacDonald himself stood – Astoria, Oregon, Ft. Vancouver, WA, Lahaina, Maui and now Rishiri and Nagasaki, Japan. I can better understand and realize what a significant impact this man had on US-Japan relations. If it were happening today, Ronald MacDonald would be a celebrity/hero and perhaps his photo would be on the cover of TIME magazine. Sadly, though, more people equate the name ‘Ranald MacDonald’ with hamburgers than History. Collectively, we at “Friends of MacDonald” must continue to work hard to educate people about the important historical significance of the Fearless Adventurer known as Ranald MacDonald.

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Through your memberships and/or donations you contribute to the building of ties between American and Japanese citizens who have an interest in history, education and people-to-people exchange. Recent membership activities have included historical reenactments, tours of historical sites and exchanges between scholars, historians and writers.

FOM, through the story of Ranald MacDonald, encourages American students of Japanese and Japanese learners of English to engage in the adventure of cultural exchange. Foreign language and cultural studies enrich the citizens of both countries and further mutual understanding between peoples.

FOM provides a window to learning about a unique trans-pacific heritage by conducting lectures and seminar programs, exhibits at public libraries and museums, and participation in ongoing efforts to interpret and preserve the history of the Pacific Northwest.

We invite you to join us! Establish your new annual membership, gift membership or donation in the appropriate category:

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Please contact:

Friends of MacDonald
c/o Clatsop County Historical Society
P.O. Box 88
Astoria, OR 97103

Or

amm@friendsofmacdonald.com