Nagasaki-Door to the West

Nagasaki is formed by a cleft in the mountains, creating a long, thin bay that serves as an excellent harbor. The main portion of the city sits on the eastern slope of the bay. At the end of the 16th century, Nagasaki was the site where Catholicism from Portugal first set foot on the Japanese nation. Later Spanish attempts to proselytize Christianity were checked as the protagonists, Franciscans, were executed by the Japanese. But Portuguese and later Dutch traders were permitted to continue trading activities, provided they remained confined to fan-shaped island, built in 1634 for them, known as Dejima. This zone has been maintained until the present as an historical site. A church (see picture) and residential dwellings remain. When the Japanese launched their Great Leap Forward in the last quarter of the 19th century, British businessmen like Thomas Glover(or Mr. Walker, or Mr. Ringer) made fortunes bringing Western technologies to the Japanese while expediting tea and textiles and ceramics to the West. Glover helped to establish the industrial giant, Mitsubishi, but he also brought beer to Japan when he established the Kirin company. These prominent businessmen were not required to live in the Dejima settlement and they lived in mansions(picture) with gardens(two pix) overlooking the harbor. They attended churches built nearby on the mainland. Mitsubishi still has huge dock space throughout the harbor. You can still see the neo-classical HSBC building(picture) fronting the harbor. The area designated as ground zero(picture) is about 2 miles from the HSBC building, moving parallel to the axis of the bay, away from the bay’s outlet. See the statue honoring Puccini for his “Madame Butterfly”.

China- Firecracker or guided missile?

Like Paris, Beijing has been the sprawling cultural and political center of China for centuries. As the West’s successive and ultimately successful waves of reform and advancement accelerated, Chinese leadership and its civilization deteriorated. Confronted by the West’s superior technological and legal systems, the Chinese response was to ignore or arrogantly pretend it didn‘t matter. The Great Wall afforded no protection from good ideas! (The Japanese, on the other hand, got busy, launched their industrial revolution and were able to catch up in several generations.) The first 50 years of the Twentieth Century was consumed by war against itself and Japanese incursion. Under Mao, the country was united by force. But Mao was imprisoned by his silly and completely fruitless ideology, and China went backwards both in absolute and relative terms, compared to the West and Japan. A big, crude man, Mao could organize an army but had no clue how people and nations create wealth. Despite his complete failure to find a way forward for his nation, the Chinese leadership honored him with a large mausoleum at the edge of Tienamen Square. The leadership that followed in his has been much more successful. Like its economic fortunes, the skyline of Beijing has changed markedly over the past 30 years. Up and up! Huge, new towers of steel and glass have been and are being constructed, but the spiritual center still remains the Forbidden City, the palace completed in the early 15th century and the golden globe-topped Temple of Heaven. Can the leadership keep this guided missile on track? Time will tell.

The Jews of Shanghai

In the roughly 100 years subsequent to the first Opium War, Shanghai, not Hong Kong, was at the center of the British business enterprise in East Asia. The Opium Wars had resulted in foreign “footprints” within the city, in zones called concessions. These were essentially extra-territorial pieces of Great Britain or France, which were governed by the laws of these foreign nations. The construction of magnificent buildings, still evident(two photos), along the Huangpo River in downtown Shanghai(The Bund) testify to just how profitable these foreign enterprises had become. During these salad days, enterprising Jewish businessmen had erected a stately, neo-classical synagogue in the French concession(1 photo). But as the clouds of the Second World War gathered in the late 1930’s, the forces of destruction and disorder were about to bring down the curtain on this commercial party. To those who were willing to see, the Jews of central Europe were facing a catastrophe. But by 1938, few nations were willing to accept Jews seeking refuge from the Nazis. China, terribly weak and disorganized, and ravaged on its own soil by Japan, remained open to one last wave of foreigners. Those with enough resources to buy a ticket on the Lloyd Trentino Line could find passage from Genoa or Iraq to Hong Kong and Shanghai. This group came not to invest, but to save their lives: These were the refugees who formed the Ohel Moshe Synagogue(address number 62). The future U.S. Treasury Secretary Michael Blumenthal, lived at number 61. Most survived the war, and then dispersed to the West. (Also shown is a shot of modern Shanghai, taken while crossing Suzhou Creek.)

Saigon-The new Bangkok?

Vietnam is an epitome of the rising tide of Asian development. And Saigon is at its center. Saigon is a river town about 15 miles(as the crow flies) from the mouth of its namesake river where it meets the South China Sea .Topographically, the city is as flat as a pancake and sits just a few feet above the river. The river is deep enough to accommodate large ocean-going freighters, going in both directions. It is busy with all kinds of traffic, including hydrofoils going to Vung Tau. These weave their way among the gravel and sand barges. A new concrete bridge spans the river near downtown. The skyline is now crowded with high-rise apartments and modern business towers. There is even a tower with a heli-port. The town center has been cleaned up quite a bit and even the Rex Hotel has undergone a major facelift. European luxury brands have taken over its ground floor and are visible at street level. The old opera house has been given a fresh coat of paint. Gone from view are the dense aggregations of young women wearing traditional pajama-style garments. Blue jeans and sport-shirts are the uniform, everywhere. Development in the north is also active but seems not quite as flamboyant as in the south. The UN has designated Ha Long Bay as a world heritage site and hotels have sprung up in the proximate city of Hon Gai to accommodate visitors. The limestone deposits, spread out over many square miles, form unusual shapes and are covered with vegetation. This is worth seeing. The future for Vietnam seems bright, if the freedom to produce and create can be sustained, not restrained. The people are industrious. There is land for farming, abundant seafood, plenty of rain and strong sun.

Cambodia A rising tide...

Cambodia hasn’t been a very good place to live for quite a number of years. But there is hope that it will rise from the ashes of its glory years and its people will prosper. Southeast Asia is moving forward and the rising tide is raising all the boats. Our ship docked in Sihanoukville, which is the country’s main port. There is evidence of development here, including a Ramada hotel and a new casino and hotel complex is nearing completion. Interestingly, the port contained a single wind-turbine. The central market is a tangled mass of vendors in a darkened, covered structure and there is little of interest to buy. The streets are broken, the sidewalks, non-existent, and the infrastructure is dilapidated. But there are cell-phone towers! We spent our day at the Village des Enfants, an orphanage housing about 140 kids aged about 5-20. The orphanage is supported by the government and some foreign organizations. The French society ADOS has apparently been a major sponsor, but Japanese groups have sponsored the library and even the US Navy has recently refurbished a small gazebo. These children are clean, appear well-nourished, clothed and all had shoes. They put on several dance performances for us. The facilities are clean, much cleaner than most of the town.

Singapore- Republic of Virtue

Singapore is a remarkable place and there’s no standing still here. Land is being reclaimed from the sea for more dock facilities in several spots around the island. The oil and gas storage and production facilities are already huge. New high rise towers rise in central and peripheral Singapore. The trees and foliage are luxurious and well maintained. Orchard Road is a fabulous experience just to marvel at the dense assembly of beautiful and shiny boutiques. We visited the food level of the Takashimaya Department store in Ann Ngee Plaza. The choice and quality of the goods were a pleasure to behold. Most of the construction around the intersection of Scotts and Orchard Roads is complete and it is very crowded with shoppers. We visited Sentosa Island, which is just south of the cruise-ship terminal. It has many amusements as well as beaches, hotels and restaurants. This was a multi-year project and it looks almost complete. Access is free via the monorail from Vivo City, a big shopping center on the Singapore Island side. It looks like they are extending the city’s subway system onto the island via an under-the-harbor tunnel. It’s almost 50 years since Singapore was created when it broke away from the Malaysian Federation. Despite its multicultural roots, it is a Chinese city with the English sense of free trade, the rule of law, and little corruption. Plato would be proud of this republic. (Photos: Singapore at sunrise, ships at anchor, downtown skyline with Merlion spouting water in foreground, Sands Hotel (2), watering the plants on Orchard Road.

Way down upon the Swan River

Perth, Australia seems about as far away as one can get from Sydney. Sydney is over 1200 miles, due east, by car through the empty wilderness that is the interior of Australia. Yet Perth is a thoroughly modern metropolis situated on the banks of the Swan River. Its port, eponomously named Fremantle, is analogous to Piraeus, Greece in proximity and function. A train runs to Perth every 15 minutes or so. It’s about a 30 minute ride. There is a dock in Perth but bridges across the Swan River have made it inaccessible to large ocean-going craft. Perth is a business center for the mining and sheep-raising industries. I counted at least 8 large freighters off shore, waiting to load. We visited King’s Park, located on a high point above the river, from where one can see the high-rise office and apartment buildings of the city. It contains botanic gardens. The central focus of the park is a large stone monument to the fallen soldiers of World War I. I found another monument way off to the side, almost hidden by a large tree.