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Jun. 25, 2004 What's the real story of "History"? Hillel Weintraub, Future University - Hakodate

A few days ago I got a telephone call from a tv station in Sapporo, asking me if I'd be willing to play Admiral Perry in a tv drama about the opening of Japan and the role of our city Hakodate in the process.. Wow, very exciting, I thought. I played a lead role in a community summer drama once when I was in college, but I haven't acted in any formal sense since then. Actually though, in my own classes and other interactions with people, I love pretending, story telling and creating playful, make-up situations because I think that without drama, life has no vitality. So in some sense, I play/act every day! But this tv show sounded like a challenging experience, and getting ready for it and my first day of filming led me down some new roads. I located some information about Matthew Perry from various sites on the internet which I found by googling (a new word meaning to search the internet using the popular search engine at google or google.jp ) the keywords "Perry" and "Hakodate". Aside from some obvious errors - one site has his middle name as "Commodore", thus making him Commodore Mathew Commodore Perry! - there was a lot of helpful general information about him. But before I go any further into this, I wonder how many readers outside of Japan know much about this man? I have been asked 4-5 times in the last few weeks, "Did you learn about Perry when you were a student?" I try to be careful in answering this kind of question because people tend to see a single foreigner as a general representative of a whole culture, so I answer: "I don't remember learning anything about him when I was a student many years ago, but I'm sure the situation varies from country to country." However, the lack of knowledge about Perry is about to change with the great film we are making! No, seriously, it won't change the world knowledge about Perry at all! This film is being made for Hokkaido area tv and then will be sold to the elementary school market in Japan as a way of helping Japanese children understand about the significant event of opening of Japan to international influences. From my research on the internet, I was able to put together a surface understanding of this aspect of Japanese history. Briefly, Perry first came to Japan in 1853 to negotiate the opening of Japanese ports with a fleet of 4 ships, the so-called "Black Fleet." Six months later, as one site noted, "he returned … with an even more impressive fleet to assure the signing of the treaty." (this information comes from the "Command and General Staff College" in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas -). This spin on events - "impressive fleet", "assure the signing" - has an aggressive sound. After all the internet site is that of the American armed forces! But the reality was most likely something different and more complex. Apparently Perry's eight ships were met by a fleet of more than a thousand Japanese ships, so it's doubtful that it was simply a matter of military strength which caused the Japanese representatives to agree to Perry's demands. For example, one of the important Japanese statesmen at that time, Ii Naosuke, is quoted as believing that it was necessary for Japan to open itself to foreign contact only long enough to become stronger, and then they could isolate and protect themselves against foreign aggression. (This information was from the best researched document I could find on the general internet. Japan NEGOTIATES WITH AMERICAN COMMODORE PERRY TO OPEN TRADE by Angela Birts *1) In this hour long show (which I will appear on camera for about 5 minutes and have 3 lines!), the usual stereotype is presented - of Perry trying to order the Japanese to act in certain ways. But there are records that Perry did a lot of research before coming to Japan. Perhaps he learned something about the experience of others who came before him, and maybe even something about the Japanese culture through their eyes. Perhaps he was a rare western traveler, who actually came with some respect of the culture he was entering into. Rather than being simply a belligerent and tricky foreigner, he might have even been instructed to step softly. One Internet site explains that in his first expedition to Japan, Perry presented a letter from US President Millard Fillmore "requesting … the opening of one or more ports to trade." "Requesting" is quite a different idea than "demanding" or "assuring". ( infoplease-encyclopedia) One of the lines that I speak in the show is: "We must be able to move around Hakodate freely! FREELY!" At the time of filming, I asked the director which he preferred… "We want to move…" or "We must be able to move…." and he said "must" is stronger and better. But I realize now that there were many options which I could have presented, that would have given quite a different image of Perry. I could have created a milder line, such as "It's very important for us…. " or "It's vital for us…" But I choose the stronger expression - "We must…." Also, while saying this, I decided to point my finger in the face of one of the Japanese representatives. Of course pointing in someone's face is a rude or aggressive action in both the American and Japan culture. I wonder if Perry really would have done this. I'm worried that my portrayal of Perry and this tv show in general will simply perpetuate stereotypes. Now, after reading a little more about Perry, I feel quite confused. What kind of man was he really? Was he really a "deceitful American who wanted to conquer Japan and destroy our isolation policy" as one observer of the scene noted. See*1 Was he really out to trick the Japanese into a disadvantageous situation? Given the long history of Western imperialism, this is not an unlikely supposition. After Japan "capitulated" to his demands, Perry returned to the U.S. where he was awarded $20,000 for his success - that's quite a sum in those days. He spent his final years writing a 3 volume history of this event. A serious student of Japanese history might learn a lot from this first hand source. I'm going to try to get my hand on them to see what this man's personal view of these events were. There are some other first hand sources available, but only in Japanese, that would help provide deeper insights. As a result of this experience I reflected on how young people form impressions of their culture, which is an important part of how they see themselves vis-a-vis the world. I could see that how information is gathered, for example from the internet, and how information is presented, for example in a tv show or class video, are not simple matters, but only simple presentations of very complex issues that have multi-perspectives. Young people- actually all people living in our media-saturated society - need to get a sense of this. Japanese teachers and parents especially need to expand their media awareness to help young people develop as critical thinkers! Please post at feedback at: Let's Talk!

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