Darren Swanson (University of Sydney and Central Queensland University), Beyond Glover: Alexander Cameron Sim, James Murdoch and North East Scotland's Lesser Known Links with Imperial Japan

RIISS Seminar Series (All Welcome)

Please note the unusual date and time.

Abstract:

Alexander Cameron Sim, born in Aberlour in 1840, was a pharmacist, sportsman, and entrepreneur. Sim was extremely influential in the development of Kobe, Japan, and is today considered one of the founding fathers of the original foreign settlement. Sim is credited with being the first to mass produce the iconic Japanese soft-drink, Ramune, and also acted as the city's first fire-chief.  Widely remembered in Kobe for his humanitarian efforts towards the Japanese people, he was also a great patron of athletic activities. His rich and varied contribution to the country  was even  recognised by the Emperor for his role in leading disaster relief projects after a series of typhoons in Kobe and Osaka in 1891, and in 1896 after a tsunami devastated the Sanriku coastline killing 22,000. In February of 1917, James Murdoch was appointed as the University of Sydney's first Chair of Japanese Studies. Originally from Scotland, he spent much of his life as a teacher and journalist in both Australia and Japan, and was briefly associated with the ill-fated colony of New Australia in Paraguay. Murdoch is widely remembered as the first westerner to compile a comprehensive history of Japan. After mixed success as a journalist, author, and teacher in Japan, including tutoring a young Natsume Sōseki (the Japanese literary icon), Murdoch was contacted by the Commonwealth Government to foster new links in regard to Australia's commercial and educational relationship with Japan. Sadly, after laying the groundwork for a committed Japanese Studies program at the university, Murdoch was unable to see his plans unfold due to his untimely death in 1921.Despite living uniquely different lives, both men belonged to a peculiar Scottish cadre whereby a relatively small number of Scots, many of whom were from the North East, had a significant impact on Japan's ambition to become a modern powerhouse at the turn of the nineteenth century. This lecture will help shed light on the story of these lesser known Scots whose contribution to Japanese history has been largely forgotten in their home country.

Speaker

Darren Swanson, (University of Sydney and Central Queensland University)

Hosted by

Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies

Venue

Humanity Manse Seminar Room

Contact

For further information, please contact Dr Jackson Armstrong (j.armstrong@abdn.ac.uk)