By Chet Ross

 

Lt. Nobu Shirase commanded the Japanese Antarctic Expedition (JAE) of 1910-1912

during the Heroic Era of exploration. He was on the ice during the same time, at generally the

same place, and seeking the same goal, as Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott. Shirase’s

expedition was the first from an Asian nation to undertake Antarctic exploration, he was

considered a hero in Japan, and Shirase is arguably recognized as Japan’s most famous explorer.

Although there are several Antarctic land features named as a result of discoveries made by

various parties of the JAE, across the bibliographical landscape defining polar literature,

publications related to Nobu Shirase and the JAE are all but invisible. Given that his expedition

was significant, that he was afforded a hero’s welcome by tens of thousands upon his return to

Japan, and that the expedition’s story is fascinating, why has it been overlooked for 100 years?

 

Trying to uncover an answer to that question was the beginning of my research that

eventually culminated in writing a bibliography of works published by and about Nobu Shirase

and his Japanese Antarctic Expedition. The bibliography concluded with almost 50 entries of

first person narratives, biographies, overviews, analyses and non-free standing publications

pertaining to Shirase and the JAE. During the year since publication, several more Shirase and

JAE related publications have been identified, so there exists a wealth of publications

originating from Japan, Australia, Germany, Scotland, France, England and the United States.

The expedition had received global attention early in the 20th century, but interest and

notoriety were fleeting, and Shirase was soon forgotten with few books or substantial works

being published for public consumption. There was a brief upsurge around the time of Shirase’s

death in 1946, but these books were all in Japanese. The Shirase bibliography, published in

October 2010, less than two months before the 100-year anniversary of the JAE’s departure

from Tokyo Bay for Antarctica, became the first book written in English about Shirase and the

JAE in a century.

 

So why was Shirase overlooked and under-recognized for over 100 years? One possible

answer might be expressed in a simple statement: Shirase was a victim of bad timing, domestic

circumstances and international prejudices. That statement could provoke a great deal of

elaboration, but only certain factors will be touched upon here. An in-depth accounting of

many reasons for this short-lived recognition can be found in a recently completed doctoral

dissertation entitled “The Forgetting of a Hero: The Antarctic Explorer Shirase Nobu” written

by Brendan McInnes. McInnes’s 334-page work is an acute analysis and thought-provoking

document that discusses various reasons why Shirase has been overlooked and nearly forgotten

both in Japan and internationally. Regardless, McInnes and I agree that Shirase’s exclusion from

studies, particularly of the Heroic Era of Antarctic exploration, cannot be justified.

 

Much of the material published about the Japanese Antarctic Expedition was written in

Japanese, and several of the early narratives are in old-style kanji, the imported Chinese

character system. None of these publications have been translated into English in over 100

years. The exception to this would be McInnes’s work as it provides numerous translations of

specific areas from several accounts resulting from the Japanese Antarctic Expedition. McInnes

points out that the two most significant publications, Shirase’s narrative Nankyoku Tanken

[Antarctic Expedition], and Nankyoku-ki [Records of Antarctica] produced by the Japanese

Antarctic Expedition Support Committee – often termed the “official account” – had two very

different intents. The first printing of each account was produced in the same year, and Shirase

would not have wanted a conflict of interest. So Shirase’s narrative, Nankyoku Tanken, was a

dramatized narrative produced in an effort to raise money to help pay off the enormous debt

incurred as a result of the expedition. On the other hand, Nankyoku-ki was the factual record of

the expedition containing detailed reports of the scientific work. Nankyoku-ki was not intended

for general readership but instead geared to scientists and scholars. As a result, Nankyoku-ki had

a very limited audience and probably sold few copies. Nankyoku Tanken portrayed Shirase as

the “archetypal adventure hero” (McInnes p.245), but unfortunately for Shirase, cultural

attitudes shifted shortly after the expedition’s return producing a mindset in Japan that did not

desire or require hero figures. The result was Shirase’s account drew much less interest than he

had hoped, resulting in low sales for the publication.

 

Oddly, another cause for Shirase’s fading recognition was his association with Japan’s

Count Okuma. Okuma was a former premier and founder of Wasada University, and he was

also the chairman of the Japanese Antarctic Support Committee. But according to McInnes,

Count Okuma was simply an opportunist with a known proclivity for discarding people once

they were no longer of service. “Shirase benefited enormously from Okuma’s patronage in the

public arena, and indeed it is more than possible that the expedition would not have gone ahead

were if not for Okuma’s skill in courting both press and public. Nevertheless, this same

association with Okuma may have had negative consequences for Shirase and his expedition”.

(McInnes p.194). Okuma attempted to manipulate the energy surrounding Shirase and the

JAE before the expedition in an effort used to regain his lost political standing. Okuma also

benefited from his association with the overwhelming enthusiasm surrounding Shirase upon his

return from the Antarctic. This association helped overshadow strong negative opinions

resulting from the embarrassing Japan-British Exhibition scandal that occurred during this time

period. But not long after his return, Shirase was abandoned by his supporters, leaving it up to

him to sustain interest in the JAE and pay the enormous debt owed as a result of the expedition.

 

Outside of Japan, Shirase and the JAE have often fallen victim to a selective use of

statistics. His achievements are frequently assessed using such metrics as how long he stayed,

how many men participated, how far they reached inland, how many new discoveries and

scientific reports were produced, whether or not they achieved all of their goals, how large,

small, or ill-equipped their ship may have been, etc. The metrics may be inherently unjust as no

explorer or expedition was equal, and each was unique in their own right. In actuality, three

expeditions were on the Antarctic continent at the same time, and each attempted to reach the

South Pole; two made it to the Pole, and one did not; one group of pole seekers died, and two

survived; one expedition lost several men, and two lost no men; two of the expeditions were

self-supported by their expedition leader, and one had its country’s monetary support; two

produced scientific research, and one did not; etc. A participant is a participant, and no country

or expedition should be excluded from receiving their due recognition. All expeditions during

the Heroic Era required years of effort to plan, large amounts of money to execute and varying

degrees of human and animal sacrifice to achieve whatever each ultimately accomplished.

 

Another reason for the lack of attention to the JAE was that internationally, there was

sometimes the delicate issue of wariness and prejudice toward the Japanese that threaded

through the early twentieth century and well past the Second World War. Biases permeated

several of the 1911 Australian and New Zealand newspaper articles about the expedition when

Shirase and his crew had to wait out the southern winter in Sydney Harbour. “The appearance

of the vessel and what could be seen of the equipment leads one to believe that nothing so

serious as a dash for the Pole is part of the plan for the expedition,” wrote one typically

suspicious Sydney reporter. Preconceptions certainly contributed toward foreign

misunderstanding and later ignorance of the expedition. Shirase was, in fact, interested only in

Antarctic science and exploration and in bringing the pride of accomplishment to the Japanese

people. In these respects, Shirase and his men were no different than the men of the Belgian,

British, Scottish, German, Swedish, French, Norwegian, and Australian Antarctic expeditions

of the same era.

 

One other obstacle to enduring recognition was bad timing. Shirase’s expedition began

shortly after the Russo-Japanese War and returned home just before the beginning of World

War I. Soon after Shirase’s return in 1912, Emperor Meiji died after reigning for over 45 years

— an event that captured the attention of the entire country, and also accelerated profound

cultural changes already underway in Japan at the beginning of the twentieth century. Shirase

died in 1946 shortly after Japan’s defeat in World War II, so little recognition was afforded him

after his death. Finally, and in just over three months after the 100th year anniversary of the JAE

departure from Tokyo Bay, Japan suffered from a massive earthquake and resultant tsunami

leaving over 20,000 dead or missing. This was followed by the immediate and long-lasting

effects of the Fukushima nuclear disaster — an event that will preoccupy the entire country for

years. So today, as after his return from the Antarctic, or after his death, any celebrations related

to Shirase and JAE are overshadowed by current events in Japan.

 

What did Shirase the JAE achieve during their time in the Antarctic? In addition to that

already mentioned, Captain Nomura of the expedition demonstrated an extraordinary feat of

seamanship as he sailed an underpowered, meagerly equipped vessel more than thirty thousand

miles without sustaining any crippling damage or losing a single crewman. The official report

on the expedition, compiled by Shirase and the Antarctic Support Committee in 1913, listed

ten summary accomplishments, including scientific research, discovery of new lands, experience

in navigating Antarctic waters and land, and demonstrating Japanese seamanship to the world.

One item in the list particularly stands out: “Such a determined expedition in peace-time

encouraged the morale of the nation”. Shirase had provided Japan with a new kind of national

hero and role model—one who was not a warrior or conqueror or political figure, but an

ordinary man who had accomplished the extraordinary through relentless determination and

courage — a description that could be applied to any other explorer who ventured to Antarctica

during the Heroic Era of exploration.

 

 

Nankyoku Tankentai Taika

The Song of the Antarctic Expedition Team

by Keiichi Tada, JAE secretary and flutist

So, our destination is the great ice field in the South at the end of the earth’s axis.

Our ship is the famous “Kainan” (Southern Explorer), loaded with an important mission.

There is no need to fear the many hardships that may come to us in moving through the ocean.

Many difficulties will come to us as we follow the mountains and rivers, but we need not worry.

Our team bears the hopes of seventy million of our compatriots.

Our team will go forward with the eyes of our country on us.

Let’s go bravely and put the sails up in the sunrise.

Let’s move forward without looking back, with our sleek dogs in attendance.

 

 

 

References and Acknowledgements

º McInnes, Brendan Neil, “The Forgetting of a Hero: The Antarctic Explorer Shirase Nobu”,

The University of New England, Armidale, October 2009.

º “From the Antarctic Japanese Expedition,” Morning Herald, Sydney, May 2, 1911.

º Shirase, Nobu, “The First Japanese Polar Expedition,” The Independent, New York, October 3, 1912.

º Hamre, Ivar, “The Japanese South Polar Expedition of 1911-1912: A Little-known Episode in

Antarctic Exploration,” The Geographical Journal, London, November 1933.

º Shirase, Nobu, et al, Nankyoku-Ki, Tokyo: Seikô Zasshisha, December 1913, Appendix 5.

Translation by Dr. Seiya Ueda

º Shirase, Nobu, Nankyoku Tanken, Tokyo: Hakubunkan, January 1913

Translations from “The Forgetting of a Hero: The Antarctic Explorer Shirase Nobu”

by Brendan McInnes, October 2009.

º Shirase, Kyoko, Yukihara e yuku: Watashi no Shirase Nobu. Konoura, Akita, Japan:

Nankyoku Tanken Taicho Shirase Nobu Tsuishoukai., 1986

Translations from “The Forgetting of a Hero: The Antarctic Explorer Shirase Nobu”

by Brendan McInnes, October 2009.

º Kenjo, Tsunabuchi, Shirase Choi Nankyoku tankenki, Shinchosha, Tokyo, 1983

The Song of the Antarctic Expedition Team by Keiichi Tada

Translation by Rupert Summerson, Moko Eade and Noriko Sakai of Canberra, Australia.

º Ross, Chet, Lieutenant Nobu Shirase and the Japanese Antarctic Expedition of 1910-1912 —

A Bibliography. Adélie Books, Santa Monica, CA, October 2010