Interview with Fred Schodt

What first motivated you to research and archive the life of Ranald MacDonald?

Back around 1991 I was doing research for a little book, titled America and the Four Japans: Friend, Foe, Model, Mirror, about the complex relationship that America and Japan have. I spent a lot of time reviewing books about the history of the relationship, and about early contacts. In one of the books I read, there was a paragraph or two about Ranald MacDonald, and when I read about him I was absolutely amazed. I was flabbergasted that I had never heard of him, for he had such a fascinating story. That was the beginning of my obsession.

Were you surprised by Choice Magazine's recognition of your book as an "Outstanding Academic Title"?

Yes, I was, since I always thought the book was written in too "popular" a style to be selected as an academic title. Some of my friends have actually implied that the book is too academic for them, but some academics have said in their reviews that it reads like a novel. Maybe I hit the sweet spot for academics... One of my goals, I must say, was to try to set the rather confusing record of Ranald MacDonald straight, so I did try to document all my sources very carefully.

How much public recognition has the biography received since its initial publication in 2003 aside from this most recent one? Are you pleased with the response your book has received?

There hasn't been a lot of response compared to my books on manga (most people think Ranald MacDonald has something to do with a hamburger chain, after all), but what response there has been, has been very gratifying. In the Pacific Northwest, in particular, there is high interest in his story, since that is where he spent his childhood. Usually, when I have given talks about his life, people become quite hooked on the story. I also just came back from doing a series of lectures in Japan, and the interest in him seems very high there, too.

Where did you travel, in order to research on MacDonald? What did you find at each location and whom did you speak with?

I tried to go to all the sites where he was known to have been, at least as they relate to his Japan adventure. And I visited almost all the sites where there are primary source materials on him, and interviewed people who knew of his story. So I went to Rishiri Island off the coast of Hokkaido (in far northern Japan near Sakhalin, or Russian territory), to Matsumae (also in Hokkaido), to Nagasaki (on Kyushu Island, far to the south), and to Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Ontario, Long Island, and so forth. There are some primary source materials on him in The Hague, in the Netherlands, but I was unable to go there and had to be content with copies of materials sent to me. All in all, researching his story for me was a grand adventure, lasting over twelve years.

What type of a person was Ranald MacDonald?

He true cultural hybrid. He was half Chinook Indian, and half Scot, of blurred nationality (he could claim to be "Oregonian," "American," Canadian, and even British), and he was skilled in several languages. He was educated and could pass easily in white society, but at the end of his life he identified as a Native American and died a registered member of the Lake tribe. He is buried on the Colville Indian reservation in far northeastern Washington state, and is unusual--for someone educated, and of mixed race, at that time--in that he overtly identified as an Indian at the end of his life.

How did MacDonald become interested with Japan? Or rather, what was it about Japan that interested MacDonald?

There are a lot of different theories about this, which I try to explore in my book. He was clearly raised in an environment where there was a great deal of interest in Japan. He was born in Astoria, Oregon, in 1824, and his father's friends were fascinated with the idea of trading with China, and Japan, which was then closed to the outside world.

When MacDonald was ten years old, three shipwrecked Japanese sailors were actually brought to his school in Fort Vancouver (in today's Washington state, not Canada). Some writers have claimed that he met them and learned Japanese from them, etc., but there is no historical evidence for this. In fact, he probably missed meeting them by a month, as he was sent east for further schooling just before they arrived. Nonetheless, he definitely heard their story, and it must have made an impression on him. It is also possible that one of his father's friends, who had met the three Japanese, told young MacDonald that he looked somewhat Japanese. Whatever the case, when he became an adult, he apparently hatched his adventure. He may have thought that by going to Japan-- before it was opened to the outside world-- that he could make his fame and fortune. As it was, in those days there was so much racial discrimination against mixed race people that advancement in white society would have been very difficult.