A Gentleman from Japan: The Untold Story of an Incredible Journey from Asia to Queen Elizabeth’s Court

Thomas Lockley’s A Gentleman from Japan: The Untold Story of an Incredible Journey from Asia to Queen Elizabeth’s Court (Hanover Square Press) is an incredible story. Those interested in China may also want to read as it notes the service of one of the first Japanese to visit Britain in translating one of the first maps of China to fall into British hands (pirated off a Spanish Manila Galleon off California) in the 1580s – sadly now “lost” but perhaps one of master cartographer Luo Hongxian. the Britihs simly called it a “Mappe of China”. Naturally the Japanese “Christopher” was able to read the Chinese characters and amaze the British seaman with details such as Peking’s population, the size of China’s army etc. This was a century before the Jesuit scholar “Michael” Shen Fuzong arrived in England and to Oxford University.

“On November 12, 1588, five young Asian men–led by a twenty-one-year-old called Christopher–traveled up the River Thames to meet Queen Elizabeth I. Christopher’s epic sea voyage had spanned from Japan, via the Philippines, New Spain (Mexico), Java and Southern Africa. On the way, he had already become the first recorded Japanese person in North America. Now Christopher was the first ever Japanese visitor to England, and no other would leave such a legacy for centuries to come.”