Tokushima Off The Beaten Path

Although this is downtowen, I list it as off the beaten path because the clockwork only operates once an hour, so seeing it is relatively chancy. It features near life sized Awa Odori dancers that emerge from the machinery, dance to music, and then sink back into the machine. For those who didn't read about the Awa Odori, this is a yearly dance festival which is the highlight of Tokushima's cultural life, where people from all over Japana nd abroad come to participate.

Wenceslau de Moraes was a Portuguese seafarer and later consular official to Japan. Originally serving in Macau, DeMoraes visited in Japan and fell in love with a (some say two) Japanese women and subsequently attained a diplomatic post in Japan. At the time, Japan was still rather closed, and the writings of DeMoraes to Portugal provide one of the key historical insights into the Japan of his time, just prior to and just after the opening to Admiral Perry, which was a time when the Portuguese and Dutch were the primary European influences. As part of his duties, Wenceslau de Moraes tried to promote Portuguese culture, introducing the Japanese to wine and other goods. It is no coincidence that the Japanese word for "bread", even to this day, is "pan", identical to the Portuguese.

The plaque that remembers DeMoraes, an important though obscure historical figure, is in Tokushima because that is where he died, after becoming a widower on the death of his wife Yone, a geisha from Tokushima, and afterwards marrying her (also a geisha) sister, Koharu. After resigning, DeMoraes lived the latter years of his life as a Japanese, despite some hostility from the local people. For all intents and purposes, he abandoned his native culture and language except for his correspondence and adopted those of Japan. He died in Tokushima in 1929.

Wenceslau de Moraes left a simple will. "When I die, cremate my body in Tokushima". The romantic in me has to add... "So that my spirit can join those of my lovely geishas Yone and Koharu"