Welcome to Konnichiwa Philadelphia, a feature dedicated to
highlighting the relationship between Philadelphia and Japan in the modern day and in years gone by.
We'll also cover interesting societal and cultural content about Japan.
Check back every two weeks for a new article, and rediscover Philadelphia
from a Japanese perspective!
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Monday, 30 October 2006 |
If you've been to Japan or seen Japanese money, you may have noticed the man on the 1000 yen bill. If you've ever been to the University City Science Center on 36th and Market Streets, you may have noticed a statue of the same man. His name is Hideyo Noguchi, and he is one of the best-known and most widely respected medical researchers of the 20th century. He was nominated for three Nobel Prizes, awarded medals from the kings of Denmark and Spain, and received numerous honorary degrees from universities all around the world. All this despite the fact that he did not attend college or medical school, nor did he receive training as a medical researcher in Japan.
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Monday, 23 October 2006 |
The first Japanese to study abroad came to the US with the Iwakura Mission in 1872, when the new Meiji government of Japan opened official relationships with foreign nations. Five young girls were sent along with that envoy to study in the US for a period of ten years. Umeko Tsuda, at the age of seven, was youngest of these girls. She stayed with a host family in Washington, DC, and remained the US one year onger than she had originally planned. She returned to Japan at the age of eighteen.
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Monday, 16 October 2006 |
The first Japanese to come to Philadelphia were the over 100 members of the Iwakura Mission -- Japan's first diplomatic mission to the West -- from June 22 -25, 1872. The new Meiji government of Japan had recently reversed the centuries-old policy of isolationism and desired to modernize itself in the model of the US and Europe. The envoy was led by Tomomi Iwakura, and included ambassadors, government officials, and even students (including Umeko Tsuda, one of the first Japanese woman to study abroad -- at Bryn Mawr College).
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Monday, 09 October 2006 |
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You probably already knew that there is a Japanese house and garden in Fairmount Park, but do you know how it got there? Shofuso was built in 1953 in traditional 16th-century style as a gift to the Museum of Modern Art from the America-Japan Society of Tokyo on behalf of the Japanese people to the American people; a gesture of friendship and goodwill. The house was built of the finest materials available. It was built from hinoki cypress obtained with special permission from the national cypress forests, and the rocks for the garden were each hand-selected from the slopes of the Takayama mountains.
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Monday, 02 October 2006 |
Americans first came into direct contact with the Japanese art of tea here in Philadelphia at the 1876 Centennial Exposition, but it wasn't until 1928 that the first authentic Japanese teahouse was obtained for exhibition in any American museum. The growing American interest in Japanese tea ceremonies and architecture in the early 20th century led Fiske Kimball, director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, to plan a permanent Japanese teahouse exhibit in the museum.
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