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The Beginning of U.S.-Japan Relations: A Visual History by Shigeru Miyagawa

December 3, 2003

HONOLULU—Professor Shigeru Miyagawa of MIT spoke to Intercultural Management Program (ICMP) students this week on the visual depiction of Commodore Matthew Perry’s historical trip to Japan in 1853. This lecture session was held in conjunction with the multimedia exhibit Black Ships and Samurai: Commodore Perry and the Opening of Japan which Miyagawa helped to create along with MIT historian John Dower.

“We were curious about thinking of history, not from a textual point of view but from a visual point of view,” Miyagawa said, as he presented images he and his staff had collected from various institutions over the past two years.
Shigeru Miyagawa
Shigeru Miyagawa leading a tour through the Black Ships exhibit

Interactive Kiosk
The Black Ship Scroll interactive kiosk.

Black Ships Scroll on a Fujitsu Plasma Screen
The Black Ship Scroll.

Black Ships and Samurai gallery
The Black Ships and Samurai gallery.

 

The exhibit consists of daguerreotype photographs, paintings, sketches, and lithographs representing the differing perspectives of the United States and Japan during Perry’s endeavor to open trade between the two countries.

Miyagawa highlighted Japanese artists’ depictions of Perry as a stereotypical Western man with a big nose and hairy face, though Perry had no such features. As Miyagawa noted, Japanese artists increasingly demonized Perry’s image as time went on.

Miyagawa also showcased the “The Black Ship Scroll” in the exhibit presented on interactive displays complete with translated stories and anecdotes related to Perry’s visit.

“We’re always seeing foreign cultures through our own screens—our own filters—and that’s something that’s really important to understand,” Miyagawa said.

The lecture session was held at the East-West Center where the free exhibit will be featured until December 7, 2003. For more information visit http://www.jaims.org/blackships/.

Shigeru Miyagawa is Professor of Linguistics at MIT, where he also holds the Chair, Kochi-Manjiro Professor of Japanese Language and Culture. He is co-creator of the multimedia traveling exhibit, Black Ships and Samurai: Commodore Perry and the Opening of Japan, and is the creator of StarFestival, a digital curriculum on Japanese culture and history. He is the winner of numerous awards for his pioneering work in educational technology, including “Best of Show” by MacWorld magazine and the “Highest Rating” by MacAddict magazine. In 2002, Converge magazine selected him as one of the twenty "Shapers of the Future."