FIRST: Japanese on North American Continent - Vancouver, Washington - First of its Kind on Waymarking.com

Text of monument:

In October 1832, the Japanese cargo ship Hojun Maro set sail from near Nagoya bound for Edo (present day Tokyo).  Disabled in a storm off Enshu Nada, the Hojun Maru drifted for fourteen months before running aground on the coast near Cape Flattery, at the northwest tip of what is now Washington state.  The three surviving crew members Iwakichi. Otokichi and Kyukichi lived briefly among the coastal tribes before they were brought here to Fort Vancouver by the Hudson's Bay Company.   The were the first Japanese to arrive on the continent of North America.

To Commemorate:

The arrival of the first Japanese on the North American continent, the Washington State Centennial, the 1989 American-Japanese Boy Scout Joint Training Exercise, and to promote the continued friendship between the U.S. and Japan

 This monument was donated by the Hyogo Boy Scouts Rover Tropp to the People of the State of Washington, with assistance from the 1989 Washington Centennial Commission, Nationa Park Service and Japanese American Citizens League.

 Dedicated on August 1, 1989.

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