400 Years since the gift of a telescope to the Japanese ruler by a British envoy on 8 September 1613
First viewings of the telescope will take place at Hatfield House and the Tower of London 400 years after the original telescope was presented to Tokugawa Ieyasu by John Saris, Commander of the first British Mission to Japan.
The telescope will be presented by Japan400 to mark the 400th Anniversary of Japan-British Relations in trade, diplomacy, science and culture. It will be offered as a gift to the Japanese people. In due course it will be displayed at the British Embassy in Tokyo and a number of locations around Japan with strong British historical connections, before going on permanent display at a final destination in Japan, to be announced later.
Those present for this Event will include Lord Salisbury, whose ancestor as King James I’s Chief Minister organised the original Mission and gifts, and Akira Matsura, whose ancestor the Lord of Hirado was the first to welcome the British to Japan and then had them guided on their way to Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the Tokugawa dynasty.
Also attending will be Minister Akio Miyajima and Counsellor Kazuya Mori from the Japanese Embassy, Yuichiro Hanyu, Director of the Japan Local Government Centre, London, Takaaki Hanaoka, Secretary General of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the UK, and Professor Kozo Hiramatsu, representing the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
For more information: http://japan400.org/marking-400-years-of-trade-relations-with-japan-japan400-telescope/
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