In 1813, the Japanese captain Jūkichi and his crew were blown far from their intended course and set adrift across the Pacific.

What followed was a four-year journey through California, Alaska and Kamchatka before their eventual return to Japan—a voyage occurring during the Tokugawa period, when Japanese travel abroad was heavily restricted and return itself could entail interrogation and suspicion.

Originally recorded in 1822, Funaosa Nikki is sure, a survival narrative, but aside the shipwreck and endurance, Jūkichi is extraordinarily attentive, and the descriptions of unfamiliar languages, foods, religious customs, ships and social arrangements are enraptruing. The narrative preserves the experience of encountering the nineteenth-century Pacific world from a Japanese perspective, before the forced opening of Japan and the familiar machinery of modern international exchange.

This English edition was translated by Richard F. Szippl from Takichi Suzuki’s modern Japanese rendering and includes photographs, maps, explanatory notes and historical material. A scarce, remarkable document of drift, observation and involuntary travel—history produced by a ship being blown off course.

Chunichi Publishing, Nagoya, 2005. First English-language edition. Paperback, illustrated throughout. Light handling wear and minor marks. Includes a presentation letter signed by Yasuhiro Saso, then Vice-Chairman of the Aichi Prefectural Assembly; recipient unidentified.