The Library and Archive, Kirkwall

3 – 9 September, during Library hours

Orkney’s connection with Japan began when Japan was modernising and looked outside its borders for experts – Henry Scharbau, grandfather of the 11th Laird of Breckness, was recruited for his surveying skills. He brought back four illustrated journals recording three such expeditions, and he himself is in them too.

We start in 1873, roughly 50 years after the invention of photography, with an early group photo of some of the travellers, and a small group of images from the journals as well as a portrait of Henry himself.

Then in 1909, two brothers travelling in Asia bump into some Americans with the same name (slightly different spelling) and discover they are cousins. One of the two Scots is Walter MacLellan, whose grandson Malcolm Macrae just this year came across a family photo album and made the connection — that this was their journey — from Hong Kong to Honolulu, spending some two months in Japan along the way.

Next, the McCance family finds itself in Kobe in the late 1920s, when Matthew McCance takes up a position with an international paper trading firm based out of London, marries his fiancée who sails out to join him, and finds a large European style home for his family, which soon includes son Neil. Leaving for Canada before the war starts, they eventually make their way to Orkney, which is currently home to four generations of the family.

David Eunson, Latin teacher at Stromness Academy after the war, found himself in Australia during the war, part of a group of talented linguists using their skills to translate wartime communications. Eavesdropping on the Emperor, a talk by Peter Kornicki at the Science Festival, tells their story. Tickets are available here: EAVESDROPPING ON THE EMPEROR – Orkney International Science Festival

Come see Japan through their eyes, and stop and browse the growing collection of books on Japan, seeded by a bequest from the estate of one of the other wartime code-breakers, James Sutherland. He and his wife visited Orkney in 1991, where they met a young Japanese tourist called Atsuko. They later ended up visiting her in Japan, and formed an enduring friendship.

Books by OJA members Rimika Tanaka (about to be published!) and Alison Clark (being translated into Japanese!) are also featured in our small exhibition from 3 – 9 September. Westray’s Alison Clark went to Japan because of the interest there in her book, The Unhurried Child. She is also an artist, and contributed to Mother of the Sea 海の母, the exhibition that was part of our seaweed project for OISF 2024.