The Transplantable Roots of Catherine Huw Nagashima

Encounters with the Welsh in Japan

Susan Karen Burton

• Publisher: Parthian Books
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9781917140447
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: African American History

Since the first 'Welch' sailor set foot on Japanese shores in the seventeenth century to the present-day presence of high-tech Japanese companies in the Valleys, Wales and Japan are two nations with deeply entwined roots. Captured in this groundbreaking book is a chorus of modern-day Welsh migrants to Japan. There is Catharine who, in 1965, followed her Japanese husband to an 'out of kilter' house in the seaside town of Zushi; Jac, the 'capitalist ski bum', who guides tourists through the bear-infested wilds of snowy Hokkaid?, while on a volcanic island in the Seto Inland Sea, Simon clears jungle vines to develop his vegan farm. There are also actors, writers, teachers, an ex-bouncer turned martial artist, a filmmaker, a games localiser, and many more. There are even Japanese fans who promote Welsh culture in their homeland. Together they form a polyphonic group portrait based on oral-history techniques, mixing travel writing, character study and reportage, while proving an ear for natural speech. Fresh, engaging, with a strong sense of space and place, but above all, a knack for crafting a life story, this volume of documentary literature presents universal themes of work, adventure, reinvention and survival. Here are people discovering and negotiating the land, the life and the culture of Japan, and putting down 'transplantable roots'. INCLUDES 45 B&W IMAGES

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword Lord Gregory Mostyn
• Introduction The First ‘Welchman’ in Japan
• Chapter One The Transplantable Roots of Catharine Huws Nagashima
• Chapter Two Springtime on the Old Hamada Farm: Simon Whalley’s island life
• Chapter Three Made in Japan (and Returned to Porthcawl): Bethany Cummings takes home a Japanese film crew
• Chapter Four ‘If I Ever Come Back, It Means I’ve Failed’: Andrew Beak’s big decision
• Chapter Five ‘Leave the Space and Let It Be’: Paul Baxter looks back on his architectural career in Japan
• Chapter Six Big Man Jitsu: In the dōjō with seventh kyū black belt, Jaime Morrish
• Chapter Seven Powder to the People! The philosophy of capitalist ski bum, Jac Phillips
• Chapter Eight ‘ A Quiet Murmur of Buddhist Thought’: Japanese influences in the career of Welsh independent writer/director/producer, John Williams
• Chapter Nine Discovering Dō: How the Japanese experiences of Dan Bradley and Eluned Gramich shaped their creative careers
• Chapter Ten Welsh at Heart: Chikako Hirono and the Kansai St David’s Society
• Chapter Eleven ‘Wales Is My Eternal Theme’: The teaching life of Dr Takeshi Koike
• Chapter Twelve One Moonlit Night, Yūko Nakauchi Encounters Wales
• Chapter Thirteen ‘I Fell into It Entirely’: The transient life of travel and culture writer, Lily Crossley-Baxter
• Chapter Fourteen Puff Puff on Doki Doki Island: Geraint Howells and the Mabinogion world of games localisation
• Chapter Fifteen Cutting a ‘Mie’ for Wales: Ursula Bartlett-Imadegawa fights for national recognition (and supplies her own flag)
• Afterword The Welsh in Japan: Embedded, Assimilated and Adaptable
• Endnotes
• List of Interviewees
• Notes on Interviews, Japanese Spellings and Statistics
• Glossary and Abbreviations