AT THE END OF THE IZU PENINSULA IS SHIMODA.
IT'S AN EASY RIDE ON A LOCAL TRAIN; THE CONDUCTOR AWAITS TO MAKE HIS FIRST RUN OF THE DAY.
A SMALL, OUT OF THE WAY FISHING PORT, NESTED AMONG STEEP HILLS AND NARROW VALLEYS.
A PERFECT PLACE TO KEEP PESKY FOREIGNERS AWAY FROM THE ALL BUT IN NAME NATIONAL CAPITOL, EDO, (FR0M 1868 KNOWN AS TOKYO)...
...WHICH IS JUST WHAT HAPPENED TO ADMIRAL MATTHEW PERRY WHEN, IN 1854, HE ARRIVED TO FORCE JAPAN TO TRADE WITH AMERICAN SHIPS. INSTEAD OF ALLOWING HIS FLEET OF "BLACK SHIPS" TO GO TO EDO, THEY WERE MOORED HERE.
HE CAME ASHORE AND WAS LED ALONG THIS CANAL TO ....
...THE BEST ACCOMMODATIONS THEY HAD, RYOSEN-JI, A BUDDHIST TEMPLE (THE PRIESTS WERE NONE TO HAPPY GETTING MOVED OUT).
NEEDLESS TO SAY, THE REST IS HISTORY, AND A TOPIC OF PAINTINGS, STORIES, MYTHS, AND ...
...MONUMENTS...AND EVEN...
...UTILITY-HOLE COVERS, WITH A DEPICTION OF ONE OF HIS BLACKSHIPS.
PERRY WAS FOLLOWED IN 1856 BY THE FIRST AMERICAN CONSUL TO JAPAN, TOWNSEND HARRIS. HE HAD A DIFFICULT, MISERABLE 5 YEARS, BUT DID SUCCESSFULLY NEGOTIATE A FAVORABLE TREATY FOR AMERICAN COMMERCIAL INTERESTS. BUT THAT IS NOT WHAT HE IS KNOWN FOR IN JAPAN.
ITS THE STORY (AND MYTHS) ABOUT A YOUNG GEISHA, OKICHI, WHO SERVED HARRIS IN ONE CAPACITY OR ANOTHER, AND WHO WAS OSTRACIZED FOR DOING SO AFTER HARRIS LEFT. SHE HAD AS DIFFICULT A TIME AS HARRIS, EVENTUALLY COMMITTING SUICIDE. GREAT FODDER FOR STORIES, MOVIES, TV SERIES, ETC..
THIS TEMPLE, HOFUKU-JI, IS WHERE SHE IS BURIED AND MEMORIALIZED, AND IS A FAR GREATER TOURIST DRAW THAN PERRY'S STATUE, OR HARRIS'S TEMPLE RESIDENCE.
BESIDES ALL THIS INTRIGUE, THE TOWN STILL HAS SOME TRADITIONAL PLASTER AND STONE WAREHOUSES, BUILT TO WITHSTAND THE FREQUENT CALAMITIES WHICH PLAGUE TRADITIONAL WOOD AND PAPER STRUCTURES (FIRE, TYPHOONS, FLOODS...).
ONE HAS THIS RELIEF OF A TORTOISE AND CRANE, TWO SYMBOLS OF LONGEVITY.
THE FISHING CO-OP DOCK IS A PERFECT PLACE FOR A BEER AND SHREDDED SQUID WHILE WAITING FOR A TRAIN HOME.
