America’s First Visit to Japan

  In 1791 two sailing ships, both flying the American flag, left the Pacific Northwest bound for Japan. This was a daring venture; Japan had been a closed nation for 150 years with a policy to seize foreign ships and imprison crews indefinitely. Japanese citizens who interacted with foreigners were also under threat of severe punishment. Why did these two captains decide to risk the voyage and what was the outcome? Few details were known until recently when the logbook from The Grace, one of the American vessels, was discovered in an old trunk in a Massachusetts home. Using excerpts from that logbook, Scott Ridley and Hayato Sakurai co-wrote a book about the voyage and the reaction of the Japanese, titled America’s First Visit to Japan; Voyage of the Lady Washington and the Grace. The authors join Mindy Todd in The Point studio for this interview.