A Tale of Two Towns

In 1853 four massive smoking ships entered Tokyo (outer) Bay anchored at a small fishing port, not far from the then capital Edo and threatened to bombard the mainland if Japan did not open up to the rest of the world for trade.

They were largely ignored but were allowed to deliver a letter stating their demands, after some time they left. But they returned a year later with four more ships and anchored at another fishing port, this time considerably further away from the capital.

That town was Shimoda, a name now synonymous with Commodore Perry and his ‘Black Ships’.

The first port is called Uraga. It is located on a headland that forms one side of the narrowest channel in Tokyo Bay. It is taught to Japanese school children that Uraga was the first part of Japan that the American ‘Black Ships’ landed in an attempt to intimidate the country into opening up to the Western powers after 250 years of self-imposed isolation.

However, if you talk to anyone who didn’t pay attention in their history lessons or the majority of visitors to Japan, most people immediately associate Shimoda with Perry and his Black Ships.

The second visit was a success and the Treaty of Kanagawa was signed, a consulate built and Japan was officially open for business.

There are two stories here. The first is about self-belief, standing resolute against unknown and unknowable odds and ultimately facing down a more powerful aggressor.

The second is about compromise, bordering on surrender and giving in to the fear of the unknown.

The second story is the one that has stuck and now Uraga is a largely unknown (yet quite picturesque) suburb of Yokosuka. Whereas, Shimoda, despite its small population of just under 20,000 services a tourist industry that brings 3 million visitors a year — and growing.

Shimoda can boast: The Black Ships Museum, Perry Road, Black Ships Festival, Perry Crunch Chocolate, Perry Statue, Perry Aquadome, Perry Landing Monument, Perry Road Cakes, a bay cruise on a rather tacky replica (not quite) Black Ship, Black Ship monument at the train station gates, Perry Feeding Time at Shimoda aquarium (no harm done to animals or humans), Perry Road Karaoke and Perrolin a kind of mutant half human half penguin mascot in almost Napoleonic costume.

Uraga has a commemorative plaque in a Perry Park and a largely unseen wall mural.

How did Shimoda build a whole tourist industry around The Black Ships and Uraga fail to do so?

The good people of Shimoda saw potential in the story and they started to tell it and they told it in a compelling and engaging way and allowed people to be a part of it (museums, cruises, walks etc).

Even though Uraga’s story could have been one of stoicism, heroism in the face of overwhelming odds, being the last defence protecting Edo (now Tokyo) they failed to grasp this and they failed to become anything other than a sleepy fishing port.

Shimoda told the story well and they told it often and the town is thriving and remembered for ‘giving in’ — sorry, ‘opening up’. Uraga failed to tell the story, despite heroically standing firm, and Uraga is largely forgotten.

My point here is that often it does’t matter what story you tell but how well you tell the story. If you can engage, connect emotionally, appeal to the senses and imagination you have a story that will be memorable.

And a memorable story bonds people and allows them to move forward together because people want to bond and be a part of a story.

If you need further proof of the power of an engaging story just think about the Christians and their Christmas Story.

Storytelling.

Our brains are hardwired to tell and listen to stories. We have been doing it for as long as we have been communicating. Through gesture, drawing/painting, speech, song, rhythm, then music then written word and film; possibly in that order.

Stories that engage and are emotionally vivid, create tension, help us imagine that which we don’t know, tap into emotion and lead us towards change.

Stories are how we carry our culture forward into the future.

Descriptions however, are nothing more than lists of the items in front of us. ‘There is this, there is that, there are four of those, there is a …., there are two of these, there is only one of these but if you need more we can add an extra one…’

I have seen far too many presentations of perfectly good designs ruined by the presenter simply describing what he or she is showing.

A story approach includes characters, actions and outcomes. It paints a picture in the listener’s mind. Encourages them to imagine, reveals potential and takes them on a journey to a place filled with often unimagined possibilities.

If you want to influence people tell a story, they will listen, and as many big decisions are made based on emotion rather than reason, if your story engages, they will follow.

As the subject of this month’s Brief is story-telling, what better time of the year to introduce a story. Or rather, what better time of year to introduce ghost story.

Traditionally in The UK ghost stories are told on winter nights, preferably around a roaring log fire with some good malt at hand. Conversely, ghost stories in Japan (and they are as popular here as they are in Britain) are told in the summer — it is said in an attempt to feel a chill — a sort of psychosomatic relief from the often unbearable heat.

One example of this is in the classic ‘Tale of Genji’ written in the early 11th century which contains a passage where a group sit in a garden one summer’s night and play ‘Listening to Incense’ an activity where each member alternately lights a different kind of incense, allows the group to smell the smoke on the night air and then has to improvise a ghost story based on that fragrance — all in an attempt to get a chill down the spine.

In British the passion for winter ghost stories has led to a tradition for The BBC (at least for as long as I can remember) to screen ‘A Ghost Story for Christmas’.

The Ghost Story for Christmas series is made up of re-workings of tales from classic authors — including Dickens, Waugh and my favourite M R James, a Cambridge provost and academic who wrote some of the most terrifying ghost stories ever.

So with Halloween around the corner, my ghost story season is about to begin and I am delighted to share one of the first ghost stories I can ever watching (courtesy of my rather strange maternal Grandmother), — M R James’ ‘Whistle and I’ll Come To You’, from 1968.

Brilliantly acted by Michael Horden and with an ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) sound track decades before ASMR was a thing. Don’t worry about the incomprehensibility of much of the dialogue — it is a deliberate device to build tension, disorientate and create a creepy ambient soundscape.

It may well turn out to be the most terrifying thing you have ever seen (and heard).

Light that fire and pour that glass of malt.

Nicholas Raistrick | Communication Strategist, LABtokyo

Nicholas founded LABtokyo 10 years ago with the express commitment to helping people communicate to their highest potential.

We work with private individuals and corporate groups by delivering training and coaching programmes specifically designed to enhance all facets of interpersonal communication.

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