Mayor Taue’s group visits Aberdeen City Council’s grand Town and County Hall
Nagasaki City Mayor Mr Tomihisa Taue visited the north-east of Scotland, on a visit with the aim of further developing and strengthening civic and business links between Aberdeen and Nagasaki. Aberdeen’s Lord Provost George Adam hosted the prestigious visit which included places of interest in connection with Thomas Blake Glover who was a major figure in the industrialisation of Japan during the Meiji Period.
Lord Provost George Adam said: “Aberdeen has a strong relationship with Nagasaki based on a shared heritage and a friendship between our citizens.
“Whilst this is incredibly important to us, the relationship also offers opportunities to collaborate in many new ways and I look forward to future partnerships with the city and people of Nagasaki which can benefit us all.”
Mayor Taue said: “This is my second visit to Aberdeen and everybody has been incredibly welcoming. Aberdeen and Nagasaki have a shared history and heritage through the work and legacy of Thomas Blake Glover but we also have a shared vision for the future.
I’ve been able to learn quite a lot about the energy industries in Aberdeen and we too are embarking on a future in alternative energy technologies.”
The visit started with a visit to the hydrogen production and refueling station in the Kittybrewster area of Aberdeen, officially opened in March 2015 as part of an award-winning £19million green transport demonstration project. This includes 10 hydrogen fuel cell buses reducing carbon emissions and air pollution, as well as being quieter and smoother to run than diesel vehicles.
Next on the itinerary was Glover House in the Bridge of Don, bought by Glover for his parents. A feasibility study which seeks to identify a sustainable future use for the property is being carried out by Aberdeen City Council. Previous to the visit by Mayor Taue, councillors agreed to transfer £150,000 from the Bridge of Don Trust to Glover House.
Thomas Blake Glover, popularly known as the “Scottish Samurai”, was fundamental in the development of Japan industrial capabilities in the late 1800s. Working for the Scottish trading company Jardine, Matheson and Co, Glover travelled to Nagasaki in 1859 and spent the rest of his adult life in Japan, helping it industrialise.
In 1863, Glover helped the famous Chōshū Five travel to London on Jardine Matheson ships, members of the group including Japan’s first Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi and first Foreign Minister Inoue Kaoru. He also helped send fifteen trainees from Satsuma under Godai Tomoatsu, famous as one of Japan’s leading entrepreneurs, in 1865. He was also responsible in 1868 for bringing the first steam railway locomotive, called “Iron Duke”, to Japan, which he demonstrated on an eight-mile track in the Ōura district of Nagasaki.
Glover had good relations with the new Meiji government, leading to the commissioning of one of the first warships in the Imperial Japanese Navy (the Jo Sho Maru, later called Ryūjō Maru), which was built by Alexander Hall and Company in Aberdeen and launched on 27 March 1869. Glover also commissioned the smaller Hosho Maru for the navy and the Kagoshima for the Satsuma clan from the same Aberdeen shipyard.
Glover with the Nabeshima clan of Saga Domain in Hizen Province (modern day Kyushu, Japan’s southern main island) began to develop Japan’s first coal mine at Hashima Island, Takashima. He also brought the first dry dock to Japan. Glover helped to found the shipbuilding company which was later to become the Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan. Negotiating the sale of William Copeland’s Spring Valley Brewery in Yokohama, Glover also helped establish the Japan Brewery Company, which later became the major Kirin Brewery Company, Ltd. In recognition of these achievements, he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun. Thomas Glover died at his home in Tokyo, but was buried at the Sakamoto International Cemetery in Nagasaki.
Mayor Taue then travelled on a hydrogen bus to Aberdeen Maritime Museum, which has a permanent exhibition on Glover. The permanent exhibition includes a model of the Aberdeen-built warship Jo Sho Maru, bottles of Kirin beer which feature Glover on the label from the brewery he helped and developed, and a suit of Samurai armour which belongs to the Grampian-Japan Trust.
The afternoon segment for Mayor Taue included a tour of Glen Garioch Distillery at Inverurie, and a visit to the Scottish Rugby Academy at the University of Aberdeen. There was a formal dinner hosted by the Lord Provost in the evening.
Lord Provost Adam will visit Nagasaki in turn in February 2017 to further strengthen the ties between the two cities. In 2010, it was agreed a Citizens’ Friendship City link-up should be formed between Aberdeen and Nagasaki which is aimed at promoting free and relaxed relationships between cities, with citizens and citizens’ groups.
During the visit to Scotland, Scottish Rugby in Edinburgh also signed a strategic alliance agreement the City of Nagasaki as part of its preparations for Rugby World Cup 2019. Nagasaki will host a holding camp for Scotland’s world cup squad in 2019 on the eve of the Rugby World Cup.
Scotland is thought to be the first rugby nation to have put such plans in place so far in advance of the 2019 competition. They will have access to pitches, a gymnasium, swimming pools and accommodation all in close proximity within Nagasaki.
Scottish Rugby CEO, Mark Dodson, said: “It has been a privilege to host our Japanese guests this week to showcase Scotland and our rugby activity in different parts of the country.
Over recent years we have developed a close bond with both the Japanese Rugby Union and most recently Nagasaki. The signing of our strategic alliance today is a culmination of our work together so far and provides a concrete benefit for our national team with the holding camp in Nagasaki ahead of Rugby World Cup 2019.”
Mayor Taue said: “I am very proud to sign this agreement at BT Murrayfield. The city’s first relationship with Scotland started 150 years ago with businessman Thomas Glover; we now have new relationship through rugby. I expect our relationship will expand in several areas and rugby will have a role in that. We hope Scotland have a good Rugby World Cup in 2019 and we will be supporting them.”
Aberdeen City Council has adopted an official Japan Strategy, now part of the city council’s international policy, which aims at new business and trade opportunities for local companies, new sources of inward investment, support for academic links and an enhanced profile for the city as a global centre of excellence in energy and a key UK hub for business innovation and internationalisation through engagement with Nagasaki and more broadly with Japan.
Picture courtesy of Aberdeen City Council
