I started developing this idea a short while ago, after two stunning
lectures provided by the MIT Japan program.  It is the story of a young
black graduate student who has come to Japan to study rice and fishing
agriculture at the request of the Imperial Japanese Navy.  I hope to explore
issues of race, colonial power, 19th century relations towards the turn, and
issues surrounding the end of the Meiji and the beginning of the Taisho period.

*  *  *

excerpted from "Chronicles of the Meiji and Taisho -- by P.H. Ward, Ph.D"
by Presley H. Cannady

There wasn't a black or white face to be seen.  Small, swarthy people with
wildly contradicting calm, smooth facial features flooded about me as I
disembarked the steam clipper.  I at least stood a head or two taller than
most of them, and the tallest barely reached my chin.  Most of them had
sweat glistening on their foreheads, as the hot summer sun razed Kyuushu's
rising coastal star.  The two primary docks overflowed with vessels of all
types.  Wooden sailships, iron clippers, steamers, and of course, Japanese
warships.
News had already reached the states that Japan would soon turn its entire
navy into steam ironclads, and that England would produce these new warships
in a matter of a few years.  The mere excitement around me was overwhelming;
a people looking forward, recently bloodied and victorious in their first
extra-territorial war in two centuries and consumed with a vision of greatness.
        I remember the last time I experienced such mass elation, four years
before I sailed into Sasebo.  In reality, the hustle surrounding the move of
Florida's State Normal College for Colored Students had somehow consumed
much of my time as I rushed to complete my senior year thesis.  It was an
exciting time; since I've been away, the vision of Mr. Tucker and Mr. Gibbs
had brought this school for Negroes, like myself, into a new age of growth
and development.
        Although the scale hardly compares, I sensed the same sort of
excitement and titalation flow throughout these people.  It was a time of
change, and an island nation that had come out of isolation only forty years
ago was now looking to make its mark in the world.  I couldn't help but
wonder how much of this would I have missed--how much would have gone over
my head--if I had studied agriculture instead of history and political
science.  No, I told myself.  It only helped me realize the direction of the
attitudes surrounding me; the sense of drive would have been plainly obvious
to the simplest dullard.
        "Mr. Ward?" I heard my name echo through the terminal as I passed
through the gate.  On the paved cobblestone street ahead of me stood a
Japanese wearing some sort of sword and western garb, some ornamentation and
a strange hat; I automatically assumed he had come to collect me.  I had
stowed my spectacles with my luggage, and he was still some
one-hundred-or-more feet away; his figure too unclear to discern specifics
but clear enough to pick out of the crowd.  I strolled over, my cap
sheltering my bald head from the sweltering summer sun.  As I approached, I
noticed the fine cut of the suit, and realized I was looking at the uniform
of an officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy.  He seemed my age, the
homogenity reflected racially amongst his people made it all the more
difficult to tell.  Underneath the official trappings I suspect an ordinary
man, much like myself, could not help but also admire that unique spirit
that saturated the entire port.
        Soon, I would learn how truly wrong I was.
        "My apologies for the crowd, Mr. Ward," he bowed with slight
politeness. 
I tactfully mimicked the gesture and cast a half-smile. "On behalf of the
Emperor and the Commander of the Eastern Fleet, I welcome you to Sasebo.  I
am Ensign Myoujin Yahiko, yeoman officer in charge to Vice Admiral
Heihachiro Togo. If you will come with me."

*  *  *

-The Reverend Prez

*  *  *

+-----------------+-<The Badass Reverend of Funk Prez>---+
|    Presley H.   | Political Science / Computer Science |
|    Cannady II   | and Electrical Engineering Undergrad |
|<revprez@mit.edu>| at the Mass. Institute of Technology |
+-----------------+-<Anime Manga Development Group>------+
+     Author of Liars and Dreamers, a Robotech fanfic    +
+-------<http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/1731/index.html>-+
| MIDN 4/c A-2-2 SQD, MIT-Harvard-Tufts NROTC Battalion  |
|_|"The art of war is of vital importance to the state"|_|