ジョン万次郞に興味を持ったきっかけは、実は友人の浜地道雄さんがニューヨーク在住のお嬢さんと共著した英語学習教材、「Melting Pot or Salad Bowl?」に接したことでした。
英語で多文化を考る大変良くできた易しく書かれた教材です。
その教材の内容は、「アメリカは人種のるつぼですか、それともサラダボウルですか」、を問うています。
ニューヨークがその良い例でしょう。
アメリカは多民族が混在する国家で、その状態は多民族が解け合って一つになっていますか、
（るつぼの中にある複数の金属が解け合って一つの物質になっている状態）それとも、よく観察すると解け合っているのではなく、混じり合っているだけですか、（ミックスサラダのように多種のものが混在している姿）。
みなさんはどう考えますか？
この教材のChapter 14に、「Starbucks and John Manjiro」を見つけました。ここにその全文をご紹介しましょう。スターバックスと万次郞について述べていますね。
Just the sound of the magical word “Starbucks” could leave some coffee lovers craving for caffeine. Since it was first founded in 1971 in Seattle, Washington, as a local coffee bean roaster and retailer, Starbucks has grown into the largest coffeehouse chain in not only the United States but in the world. If you are a frequenter of one of their cafes, you may be familiar with their special coffee blends and tasty frozen drinks. But do you know what the world “Starbucks” means? It is not just a whimsical word that simply sounds nice to your ears.
In fact, it is more closely related to fishing than to coffee!
The name Starbucks comes from a character in Herman Melville’s1851 novel called Moby-Dick named Starbuck. In the novel, Starbuck is the young first mate of a ship named Pequod. Ahab, the captain of the ship, is known for his desire to catch the great whale Moby-Dick. Starbuck assists Ahab, but he is also known for his characteristics love of coffee. However, the world has had many coffee lovers. Why did this chain want to associate itself with this particular coffee lover, a man who worked on a whaling boat? The first Starbucks was in a fish market. Everything in the café had a nautical theme, including the logo. The Starbucks logo is a twin-tailed mermaid in Greek mythology known as a “Siren,” who seduces shipmen at sea with her beautiful and characteristics voice.
Whale hunting was quite as important industry as part of the American economy during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Oil from whale fat was used in everyday life until petroleum was discovered. People lit their homes with the oil. The setting of Moby-Dick is around that time in 1850, which happens to be just before the Black Ship came to the coast of Japan and Perry urged the Japanese to open up the country to trading.
Born in New York in 1819, Herman Melville worked as a cabin boy on a New York-based ship since his youth. In January of 1841, Herman Melville joined a whaling ship named Acushnet, leaving America from the port of New Bedford, Massachusetts, towards the South Pacific Ocean.
In the same year on island of Japan, a 14-year-old boy, a son of a poor fisherman from Tosa Province (now Kochi Prefecture), boarded a ship that drifted in a storm and landed on as uninhabited island. He and his shipmates were rescued by a American whaling ship named the John Howland. The John Howland was based in New Bedford, Massachusetts, the same city Herman Melville left from. The other Japanese rescued by the John Howland left the ship in Hawaii, as Japan was still isolated. The boy, nicknamed John Mung, however wanted to stay with Americans and went to the United States to become a whaler in the South Seas.
Yes, that was John Manjiro (or Nakahama Manjiro). He returned to Japan in 1851, the year when Herman Melville released his novel Moby-Dick. John Manjiro became as important translator and mediator during the opening of Japan.
It is fun to imagine Melville and Manjiro meeting each other during one of their many whaling trips. Who would have ever guessed this strange connection between a popular coffee shop and a historical character from Japan! The next time you go to Starbucks for a cup of coffee and a little time to chat, impress a friend with this interesting trivia!
(cited English Textbook “Melting Pot or Salad Bowl? Eye-opening Facts about the U.S.A.” chapter 14 by Eri and Michio Hamaji, 2008. Jan)
「意外と知らないアメリカン・ライフ」英語教材から、浜地絵里、浜地道雄 著、第14章を引用。
歴史と文学の交点にジョン万次郞があるかもしれないと考えたとき、我慢できずに万次郞を追っかけ始めました。そして、すでに掲載しているいくつかのエッセイになりました。
この出会いの中に未知の世界がいっぱいあることに気付きました。「事実は小説より奇なり」かもしれません。
英語で多文化を考る大変良くできた易しく書かれた教材です。
その教材の内容は、「アメリカは人種のるつぼですか、それともサラダボウルですか」、を問うています。
ニューヨークがその良い例でしょう。
アメリカは多民族が混在する国家で、その状態は多民族が解け合って一つになっていますか、
（るつぼの中にある複数の金属が解け合って一つの物質になっている状態）それとも、よく観察すると解け合っているのではなく、混じり合っているだけですか、（ミックスサラダのように多種のものが混在している姿）。
みなさんはどう考えますか？
この教材のChapter 14に、「Starbucks and John Manjiro」を見つけました。ここにその全文をご紹介しましょう。スターバックスと万次郞について述べていますね。
Just the sound of the magical word “Starbucks” could leave some coffee lovers craving for caffeine. Since it was first founded in 1971 in Seattle, Washington, as a local coffee bean roaster and retailer, Starbucks has grown into the largest coffeehouse chain in not only the United States but in the world. If you are a frequenter of one of their cafes, you may be familiar with their special coffee blends and tasty frozen drinks. But do you know what the world “Starbucks” means? It is not just a whimsical word that simply sounds nice to your ears.
In fact, it is more closely related to fishing than to coffee!
The name Starbucks comes from a character in Herman Melville’s1851 novel called Moby-Dick named Starbuck. In the novel, Starbuck is the young first mate of a ship named Pequod. Ahab, the captain of the ship, is known for his desire to catch the great whale Moby-Dick. Starbuck assists Ahab, but he is also known for his characteristics love of coffee. However, the world has had many coffee lovers. Why did this chain want to associate itself with this particular coffee lover, a man who worked on a whaling boat? The first Starbucks was in a fish market. Everything in the café had a nautical theme, including the logo. The Starbucks logo is a twin-tailed mermaid in Greek mythology known as a “Siren,” who seduces shipmen at sea with her beautiful and characteristics voice.
Whale hunting was quite as important industry as part of the American economy during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Oil from whale fat was used in everyday life until petroleum was discovered. People lit their homes with the oil. The setting of Moby-Dick is around that time in 1850, which happens to be just before the Black Ship came to the coast of Japan and Perry urged the Japanese to open up the country to trading.
Born in New York in 1819, Herman Melville worked as a cabin boy on a New York-based ship since his youth. In January of 1841, Herman Melville joined a whaling ship named Acushnet, leaving America from the port of New Bedford, Massachusetts, towards the South Pacific Ocean.
In the same year on island of Japan, a 14-year-old boy, a son of a poor fisherman from Tosa Province (now Kochi Prefecture), boarded a ship that drifted in a storm and landed on as uninhabited island. He and his shipmates were rescued by a American whaling ship named the John Howland. The John Howland was based in New Bedford, Massachusetts, the same city Herman Melville left from. The other Japanese rescued by the John Howland left the ship in Hawaii, as Japan was still isolated. The boy, nicknamed John Mung, however wanted to stay with Americans and went to the United States to become a whaler in the South Seas.
Yes, that was John Manjiro (or Nakahama Manjiro). He returned to Japan in 1851, the year when Herman Melville released his novel Moby-Dick. John Manjiro became as important translator and mediator during the opening of Japan.
It is fun to imagine Melville and Manjiro meeting each other during one of their many whaling trips. Who would have ever guessed this strange connection between a popular coffee shop and a historical character from Japan! The next time you go to Starbucks for a cup of coffee and a little time to chat, impress a friend with this interesting trivia!
(cited English Textbook “Melting Pot or Salad Bowl? Eye-opening Facts about the U.S.A.” chapter 14 by Eri and Michio Hamaji, 2008. Jan)
「意外と知らないアメリカン・ライフ」英語教材から、浜地絵里、浜地道雄 著、第14章を引用。
歴史と文学の交点にジョン万次郞があるかもしれないと考えたとき、我慢できずに万次郞を追っかけ始めました。そして、すでに掲載しているいくつかのエッセイになりました。
この出会いの中に未知の世界がいっぱいあることに気付きました。「事実は小説より奇なり」かもしれません。
