O Snow

Sayonara O Snow

In 1832, Japan was a closed country. The Japanese ship couldn't sail far, but a huge storm changed the lives of the fourteen crew members. The famous William Bligh drifted in the Pacific for 47 days. The three surviving Japanese sailors from the broken ship Takaramaru drifted on the huge Pacific for 425 days. Eleven sailors died from scurvy. Sustained by eating seaweed and shellfish that miraculously adhered to the side of their ship, Oto, Kyu and Iwa reached land. They became the Makah people's slaves. Because of a letter that Iwa wrote, Dr. John McLoughlin, who was called the Father of Oregon, saved them. Later, with the Hudson Bay Company and the English officials' help, they tried to go back to Japan. They sailed almost around the whole world before they reached Macao. There they met Karl Gutzlaff, a missionary, and helped him translate the Bible into Japanese. In 1837, four Kyushu men joined them, and they finally tried to go home. Japan had very strict laws against Christianity and foreign ships. Were they able to go back to Japan? The sailors would come full circle and face their final fate.