Consul-General Wajima Meets with Harrison Fleming, Director of Communications for the City of Calgary
2026/6/1
On Monday, June 1st, Consul-General Wajima had the opportunity to meet with Harrison Fleming, Director of Communications for the City of Calgary at the official residence.
The reason for this invitation was that upon conversing with Jeremy Farkas, Mayor of Calgary, at a previous official lunch, Consul-General Wajima discovered by coincidence that Harrison Fleming, who was also present at the lunch, is a descendant of Ranald MacDonald, the first Canadian native speaker to teach English in Japan.
Ranald MacDonald was a Metis adventurer and educator born in Fort George (the area under joint occupancy of Britain and the US, now Astoria, Oregon). In 1848, he was among the first to enter Japan while the country had closed its borders for over 200 years, deliberately arranging to be set adrift off the coast of Hokkaido and pretending to be a castaway. Although he was arrested and transferred to Nagasaki, he was tasked with teaching English to Japanese officials such as Einosuke Moriyama (who later became the chief interpreter during Commodore Matthew Perry’s negotiations to open Japan).
Through this exchange, it was a great pleasure not only to deepen our ties with the City of Calgary, but also to reflect on the history shared between Japan and Canada, reaffirming the strong bonds between our two countries.
The reason for this invitation was that upon conversing with Jeremy Farkas, Mayor of Calgary, at a previous official lunch, Consul-General Wajima discovered by coincidence that Harrison Fleming, who was also present at the lunch, is a descendant of Ranald MacDonald, the first Canadian native speaker to teach English in Japan.
Ranald MacDonald was a Metis adventurer and educator born in Fort George (the area under joint occupancy of Britain and the US, now Astoria, Oregon). In 1848, he was among the first to enter Japan while the country had closed its borders for over 200 years, deliberately arranging to be set adrift off the coast of Hokkaido and pretending to be a castaway. Although he was arrested and transferred to Nagasaki, he was tasked with teaching English to Japanese officials such as Einosuke Moriyama (who later became the chief interpreter during Commodore Matthew Perry’s negotiations to open Japan).
Through this exchange, it was a great pleasure not only to deepen our ties with the City of Calgary, but also to reflect on the history shared between Japan and Canada, reaffirming the strong bonds between our two countries.
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