Battleship Mikasa

     On the second day in Tokyo, I dropped in at the Battleship Mikasa Museum. I didn't know that this ship had been preserved in this way. This museum is adjacent to the U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka (a United States Navy base), and is big enough so that you can see it on the Google map. I've lots of things to write about this battleship and I don't know where I should start. I just want to write about the highlights.
     This battleship was the first steel-made battleship in Japan and was constructed in Great Britain in 1902. At the Battle of the Japan Sea in the Japanese-Russo War, this battleship worked remarkably as the flagship of the Japanese Imperial Navy. They totally defeated the Russian Baltic Fleet on May 27th in 1905. Japan staked the fate of the nation on the Japanese-Russo War that started in 1904. Russia was invading to the south at that time, so if Japan couldn't win the war, both Koreas and at least the northern half of China wouldn't exist now. Japan would also have become one of Russia's colonies. Following Japan's defeat of the mighty Russian forces on both land and sea, the war was brought to a close with the Treaty of Portsmouth mediated by the United States.
     Getting off track, two heros in this war were born in my hometown, Matsuyama City. They were called the Akiyama brothers. The elder was a hero on land and the younger was aboard this battleship. His tactics were impeccable in the battle of the Japan Sea and brought a complete triumph to Japan. A drama featuring the Akiyama borthers will open this autumn. I hope that the battleship Mikasa will appear on the screen using CG techniques or something.
     Getting back on track, Mikasa was retired in 1926. It was placed and preserved at Yokosuka City as the symbol of Japanese pride and confidence. You can see the real and neutral history inside. I'm going to write about this topic again.

(Vocabulary)
U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka  横須賀海軍施設
Battle of Japan Sea  日本海海戦
Baltic Fleet  バルチック艦隊
stake sth on sth ＜…＞を＜…＞に賭(か)ける
defeat of sb/sth  ＜敵など＞に対する勝利, ＜案など＞の否決
Scotland's defeat of Spain スペインに対するスコットランドの勝利
get off track  話が脱線する

(KW: 戦艦三笠　日露戦争　東郷平八郎　秋山兄弟　好古　眞之　真之)

Comments

[KUMO]

Thank you for comments and feel free to make it from now.

[shizue]

I remember that you were talking in a class.
Nice pictures!