The first Japanese-American citizen

Heco, Joseph

開国之滴 [Kaikoku no shizuku]. [Vol. 1, all published]. [Translated by Hisaakira Hijikata]

Tokyo: Hakubunsha, 1893. First edition (an earlier account - only 68 pages - was published in 1863); 8vo, pp. [2], 236; 3 lithograph plates (the Japanese castaways in a longboat with the American ship in the distance; a chart of Yokohama harbor; and the American fleet at Shimonoseki); original pictorial wrappers, printed paper label on spine; spine partially perished, hinges of wrappers professionally reinforced, one or two other short tears or creases, but otherwise a good copy of an uncommon and interesting account by the first Japanese-American. Heco (a.k.a. Hamada Hikozo, 1835-1897) here writes about his stint as a cabin boy at the age of 13 on the Eiriki-Maru, which was shipwrecked in the Pacific in 1850, and the subsequent rescue of its crew by the American ship Aukland, their stay in San Francisco and first encounters by the Japanese with American life and Western technology. He did not return to Japan until 1859. He became the first Japanese national to be naturalized as an American citizen. Four in OCLC, only Berkeley and Ohio State in the U.S. Not in Hill. See Howgego III, p. 265. Item #34520

Price: $2,750.00