(Voice actor) Mr.Akira Daniel Duncan

During Edo period in Japan, a sea ban policy (called sakoku in Japan) was implemented for a long time. Also, the Tokugawa regime disliked Western studies coming to Japan, so they only allowed limited information about the West be known to the Japanese people. However, the Tokugawa regime felt the need to introduce Western knowledge in the area concerning people’s livelihoods. So, in 1720, Yoshimune Tokugawa allowed the import of books unrelated to Christianity. As a result, fields such as medicine and agriculture advanced rapidly. The Western studies came to Japan via Netherlands, which was the only European country trading with Japan, so they were called “Dutch learning.” Among those who studied Dutch learning was Choei Takano. Choei was born in 1808. He grew up and entered Narutaki-juku, a private academy run by Siebold, a doctor in Dejima, Nagasaki. Choei had originally studied Dutch learning to learn medicine, but eventually became interested in chemistry and physics as well. Furthermore, his interest and knowledge expanded to military science. Eventually Choei had a realization. Western countries with such advanced studies must be powerful. Japan must become powerful like the West, or else Japan might become their slaves. However, the Tokugawa regime had a policy to drive away the Western ships that came to Japan with cannons. It seemed a war between Japan and foreign countries could break out at any moment. Choei thought that to avoid this danger, Japan needed to become rich by trading with the West and become a powerful country. However, freely trading with foreign countries was still banned at the time. It was punishable by death to go overseas without permission. Choei felt compelled to share his newly gained knowledge and tell many people the actual state of affairs and wake them up. However, even if he was speaking the truth, there was still a possibility that he would be captured by the Tokugawa regime. So, he decided to write a story. It was a story about a man who accidentally overhears a meeting that discussed the differences of Japan and foreign countries, and consequentially finds out about the strength of the West. He wrote in that later the protagonist realizes it was a dream, to give the appearance of a story, but it actually criticized the Tokugawa regime’s diplomatic policy. Choei hoped that people would wake up reading this story. However, he was captured for criticizing politics. But he did not give up. To save Japan from crisis, Choei made life-risking decisions in prison.