FAIRHAVEN, Massachusetts —

A Japanese civic group signed a document Tuesday with local officials in the town of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, to renovate into a museum a house in which the first Japanese person to reside in the United States lived during the mid-19th century.

The group led by Shigeaki Hinohara, a noted terminal-care physician, will restore and donate to the town the house where Japanese fisherman Manjiro Nakahama, more commonly known as John Manjiro, stayed after being rescued by an American whaling ship in 1841 after he was adrift in the Pacific. The house, which was owned by William Whitfield, captain of the whaling vessel, will be renamed as the Captain Whitfield-Manjiro Friendship Memorial House and is scheduled to be open to the public next May, the Japanese group said.

© 2008 Kyodo News. All rights reserved. No reproduction or republication without written permission.

0 Comments

Register or login to add a comment!