Nakahama John Manjiro   (1827-1898)

The son of a fisherman from Tosa Nakanohamaura (Currently known as Tosashimizu City, Kochi Prefecture).

In 1841, when he was 14 years old, he was shipwrecked on Torishima while fishing.
After living on an uninhabited island for 143 days, he was rescued by the American whaler John Howland and called at Honolulu.
Four crew members other than Manjiro landed in Honolulu,Manjiro continued whaling for another year and a half with the whaler John Howland. He returned to New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1843.

He lodged with the Whitfields in the town of Fairhaven, courtesy of Captain William Whitfield, and was educated.
And He returned to Japan in 1852 at the age of 25.

After returning to Japan, he engaged in the translation of diplomatic correspondence at the shogunate.
In order to ratify and exchange the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and Japan in 1860, he traveled to the United States again to accompany an envoy to the United States.
After the Meiji Restoration he served as an English professor at Kaisei School.
  (From "Manjiro Nakahama" written by Hiroshi Nakahama)