The Japanese Passenger on the Titanic
Among the fun things we're doing here in Las Vegas, we took the kids to see Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition on display at the Luxor, which lets you experience the history of the ship through the objects recovered from the wreck. My kids were in awe at the various items they'd brought up from the bottom of the sea, from plates to ceramic toothpaste containers to perfume that -- incredibly -- still managed to give off fragrance after 90 years at the sea bottom. There's even a giant bulkhead that they managed to bring up in one piece, which was just amazing to see. As you go into the exhibit, they hand you a "boarding pass" containing the name of a random passenger, and at the end you can look at a list to see if you're alive or dead. Mine was unfortunately one of the third-class passengers who didn't survive...
One passenger who was lucky enough to live was interesting to us, since he was the only Japanese on the ship. Masabumi Hosono was an employee of the Japanese Transportation Ministry sent to Russia to study railroads, and after finishing his assignment, he prepared to cross the Atlantic on the Titanic. When the ship had its fateful collision with an iceberg at 11:40 pm on April 14, Mr. Hosono was asleep, and didn't wake until someone knocked on the door of his second-class cabin to tell him to put his life-vest on. He eventually made his way to the lifeboats and, hearing an announcement that there was room in lifeboat no. 10, he jumped in. His life was saved, but he might have wished it hadn't been: he was attacked in the Japanese press for living when so many others had died, and fired from his job at the ministry, and some even called for him to commit suicide to atone for his dishonorable act. If he'd died, the world of music would have been less bright: he was the grandfather of Haruomi Hosono, one of the founding members of the influential band YMO, which helped bring Ryuichi Sakamoto to the world stage. Anyway, the Titanic exhibition was fantastic, and if you're going to be in Vegas any time soon, I highly recommend you go see it.
Do you know the story of the Japanese passenger on the Titanic?
posted by Peter in Japan at 7:27 PM
6 Comments:
Poor guy. There were conflicting reports that he got in the boat even though he wasn't supposed to have (since he was a man) and also that he was told to get in to help row the boat. What would you have done if you were in his place?
6:38 AM
I would of definitly helped without having to care what anybody thought....Still, poor guy, those people had no right, humanity really really sticks it foot in its mouth.
9:24 AM
Good article. I too definitely suggest going to this museum. I've been the one in Branson, MO, and I would say it was one of the best museums I've ever been in! You really got a feel for what it would have been like on the Titanic as well as just how tragic it was when it went down. I didn't realize there was only one Japanese person aboard the ship. Too bad Japanese culture at that time seemed to frown upon survival so much. It was similar for those who returned home from World War II as well.
2:33 AM
yup, there was a very rich mexican who gave his seat to a child or woman so he is a hero now, thats why if you survived in the titanic being male it means he was selfish
6:36 PM
The only thing I would have liked was, something to touch, like the moon rock at the Air and Space Museum in Washington. Some plate they have 10,000 of, let you touch it to get a feel for things in a tactile way.
12:37 PM
Major headlines on 14th April 1992:
LONDON-El Informante: At it's 80th anniversary of the Titanic's sinking, White Star marine transport has decided to terminate it's existing operaions in marine transport indefinitely, as a result that another of their fleet might receive the awful impact of another iceberg impact even with modern day avoidances. More on this story as it develops.
12:32 PM
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