Lecture: Bakumatsu Mystery―Who Killed Heusken?
Mr Geoffrey Tudor

A lecture was given on September 12 (Tuesday, 6:30pm, Japan National Press Club) by PR Advisor to Japan Airlines and resident of Japan for over 30 years, Mr. Geoffrey Tudor. Speaking to a full house, Mr. Tudor started by saying he felt a little uneasy lecturing a Japanese audience on their own history. Recently he had accompanied the Dutch Ambassador on a visit to Kakegawa, in Shizuoka, to see facilities such as the splendid trash disposal facilities there. However, his main purpose had been to visit the tomb of Gijsbert Hemmij, once Director of the Dutch East India Company's trading post at Nagasaki and executive of the Dutch East India Company, who died there in 1798. He had heard that the tomb was an unusual stone tablet sited right beside a highway due to the widening of a road and cared for with funds collected by the Dutch. Hemmij was on his way back to Nagasaki after a customary visit to Edo when he died at the inn where he was staying in Kakegawa but it is unknown how he died, although records state he was ill. However, it is also suggested that he killed himself or was murdered. Hemmiji was born in Capetown but graduated from the University of Leiden in his own country before joining the Dutch East India Company and moving to Batavia in 1778, and from there to Palembang, where he was punished by the sultan for causing trouble and had his salary frozen by 'the Company' for a year, before moving again, this time to Deshima in 1792. But there too he caused trouble, incurring a debt of 18000 taels. Around this time illicit trading was prevalent in Kyushu, in particular in copper with the Satsuma clan, as it is far from Edo, and it seems as if Hemmiji was involved. Was Hemmiji's death simply due to illness, or was he poisoned with something like arsenic, or killed by the Bakufu's law enforcers, or by Satsuma spies ? Could it have been a Dutch plot, or was he committing suicide? As Satsuma and Edo and Nagasaki documents that might reveal the truth remain unopened, Mr. Tudor had hoped Hemmiji's tomb might cast light on the puzzle. In the same vein, he dramatically embellished the tale of how Townsend Harris' secretary and interpreter Henry Heusken was attacked from two sides by ronin when returning home on horseback from the Prussian Legation on January 15, 1861 and died the next day from loss of blood. He proceeded to the discussion of the assassination of Ii Naosuke at the Sakurada Gate, the Mito Retainers, the Tigertail Group, exploits of Kiyokawa Hachiro, and other incidents and people. Q&A time ranged as far back as the arrival of Will Adams (Miura Angin) in Japan on the Liefde in 1600, impressing the audience with Mr. Tudor's depth of knowledge of Japan. Occasionally you come across someone with an amazing mastery of Japanese history or culture, etc, and Tudor-san is certainly such a person!

ESU International Council Meeting to take place in Japan in 2007!

Numbering 52 countries and regions throughout the world, the ESU has an International Council Meeting (ICM) every year at which representatives of each country gather to discuss various topics and report on the activities of the member countries, as well as to exchange information and deepen friendship.  This year's Council Meeting took place in London on September 13-15, with 46 people attending from 27 countries or regions. ESUJ auditor Masahiko Agata attended from Japan. At the meeting, it was decided by anonymously vote that Representatives of each ESU country are to be invited to attend the 2007 University Debate Championship on the tenth anniversary of the competition, with the ICM taking place from the following day. An opportunity to meet ESUJ members is also planned. Please note and look forward to the occasion!

English Club

English Club's monthly meeting took place on Sept. 19 (Tue.) at the Japan National Press Club. Two-minute speeches by ESUJ members were given by Mr Ko Hi, who has come to Japan from China and is continuing his study of English here, and also by Mr Hikaru Shii, on the topic "Message from Molecules", using real rubber bands distributed to the audience to demonstrate his points. Our guest speaker was Mr Mike Kato. Speaking on the title of "Inside Out, Outside In", Mike was born in California, and came to Japan after graduating from college and now works as a learning consultant in the field of English-language education. His talk covered various subjects and presented an excellent computer program for learning English. His computerized presentation was so wonderful it could almost be a 'model' for how to give such a talk!

English Club took place on October 17, (venue same) Two-minute speeches were given by Mr Kazuo Akabane, on the topic of "Missing Words in Japanese and English" and Ms Yasuko Okimoto, who spoke about life in Lugano, where she once lived, and brought along maps which obtained from the Swiss Tourist Office to illustrate her talk. Our guest speaker was Ms. Michiyo Watanabe, producer of International Theatre Company London's November performance in Japan of "Frankenstein", talking about "What is Theatre?" and demonstrating the charm of her topic with DVD highlights of the play.

Next English Club: November 21 (Tue)18:30-20:30,
Japan National Press Club (9th fl.).
The speaker will be Mr. Geoffrey Tudor, Japan Airlines,
"Ups and Downs of the Airline Business."