0:00:08 > 0:00:14You know where you are. Could you imagine anywhere more modern than Tokyo?
0:00:16 > 0:00:20Tokyo is a city of around 13 million people
0:00:20 > 0:00:23and a global commercial powerhouse.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26There's technology everywhere.
0:00:27 > 0:00:32Japan is studded with corporations so famous, they've become legends,
0:00:32 > 0:00:36celebrities - Sony, Panasonic,
0:00:36 > 0:00:39Mitsubishi...
0:00:40 > 0:00:45It's a love story, a romance, between Japan and anything new.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48This is a nation so entranced by the modern world,
0:00:48 > 0:00:51it's hard to believe it was ever anything different.
0:00:51 > 0:00:53But it was.
0:00:56 > 0:01:00A little more than 150 years ago,
0:01:00 > 0:01:02Japan was medieval.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07A land of feudal villages
0:01:07 > 0:01:09and knights in armour.
0:01:11 > 0:01:17But then, on a single day, on the 1st of January, 1873,
0:01:17 > 0:01:20Japan declared its desire to modernise,
0:01:20 > 0:01:23to synchronise with the West.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26On that day, Japan set out on her journey
0:01:26 > 0:01:31towards becoming one of the world's most powerful economic and industrial giants.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35The architect of that revolution was a unique, intrepid businessman.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38He was part buccaneer and part explorer.
0:01:38 > 0:01:42He was a Scot and his name was Thomas Blake Glover.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49Thomas Blake Glover was one of a small group of explorers
0:01:49 > 0:01:54who took the stage as the great age of exploration was drawing to a close.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00Many before them sought adventure and fortune,
0:02:00 > 0:02:05staked claims to vast territories in the name of God and country.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09But the last explorers didn't plant flags.
0:02:09 > 0:02:11They planted ideas.
0:02:11 > 0:02:16Ideas that helped shape the modern world we know today.
0:02:37 > 0:02:43In September, 1859, Thomas Glover was on a Chinese trading boat from Shanghai,
0:02:43 > 0:02:47bound for the Japanese port of Nagasaki.
0:02:47 > 0:02:53He was a pioneer. Only a handful of foreigners had ever seen Japan.
0:02:53 > 0:02:57It was a new frontier, a land of mystery,
0:02:57 > 0:03:01closed to outsiders for two centuries.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04The Americans had just changed that.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07They had sailed in forced the Japanese, at gunpoint,
0:03:07 > 0:03:10to open their borders for trade.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16Believe it or not,
0:03:16 > 0:03:20this is how many Japanese regarded Westerners,
0:03:20 > 0:03:26frowning, long-nosed, demons. Almost goblins.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30For Westerners, Japan was going to be very strange indeed,
0:03:30 > 0:03:33almost beyond foreign.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40Japan was a cupboard of yesterdays.
0:03:40 > 0:03:42Houses were made of wood and paper.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45Its technologies were dated in the extreme.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49For over 200 years, Japanese society had stood still,
0:03:49 > 0:03:52its leaders fearful that change would diminish their power
0:03:52 > 0:03:56and that outside influences would dilute their culture.
0:03:57 > 0:04:02But as the first handfuls of foreigners began to reappear on the sacred soil of Japan,
0:04:02 > 0:04:05a new slogan appeared everywhere.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08It said, "Sonno joi."
0:04:08 > 0:04:11"Sonno" means "Revere The Emperor."
0:04:11 > 0:04:14"Joi" means "Expel The Foreigner."
0:04:17 > 0:04:20To the expanding commercial empires of the West,
0:04:20 > 0:04:23sonno joi was an offence.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26America and Britain looked at Japan's location
0:04:26 > 0:04:30and saw it as an ideal way station for trade in the Orient,
0:04:30 > 0:04:35and an almost certainly profitable market in itself.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39Cue Thomas Blake Glover,
0:04:39 > 0:04:44the perfect blend of buccaneer and businessman.
0:04:51 > 0:04:55Glover landed in Nagasaki on September 19th, 1859.
0:04:55 > 0:05:01He was working for the Scottish multinational trading company, Jardine Matheson,
0:05:01 > 0:05:05founded to exploit the wealth of the empire.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07Its agents were trained to be ruthless.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11They dealt with high risks and unstable markets.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14They got rich quick and got out.
0:05:14 > 0:05:19Glover had done well in Shanghai and had been headhunted for a new challenge.
0:05:20 > 0:05:24Thomas Glover is a bit of an enigma, in a sense.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28He kept no diaries, so we can only guess at his motivations.
0:05:28 > 0:05:30He had no business background.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33His father was a coastguard in Aberdeen.
0:05:33 > 0:05:37His education could not have been more conventional or Victorian.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40And yet here he was, at the age of 20,
0:05:40 > 0:05:43with a cool business head and an eye for profit,
0:05:43 > 0:05:45stepping into a whole new adventure
0:05:45 > 0:05:50in one of the most mysterious and dangerous places on the face of the earth.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53Nothing could've prepared him for this,
0:05:53 > 0:05:56opaque customs, speaking not a word of the language,
0:05:56 > 0:05:59one of the first Westerners to try and penetrate a land
0:05:59 > 0:06:01notoriously hostile to foreigners.
0:06:01 > 0:06:05Now, for my money, that's a brave man.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19And this unlikely-looking spot
0:06:19 > 0:06:23is where Glover first set foot on Japanese soil.
0:06:23 > 0:06:27The Dejima, now the site of a heritage museum,
0:06:27 > 0:06:32used to be Japan's only point of contact with the outside world.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36In Glover's day, it was a tiny spit of land,
0:06:36 > 0:06:38set apart from the mainland by a bridge,
0:06:38 > 0:06:44once heavily guarded, but now open for business.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48Reclaimed land and the paraphernalia of a modern city now surround it.
0:06:49 > 0:06:53Brian, what exactly was the Dejima?
0:06:53 > 0:06:56Dejima was an artificial island
0:06:56 > 0:06:59that was built specifically
0:06:59 > 0:07:02to keep foreigners from mingling with Japanese people.
0:07:02 > 0:07:06It wasn't enough to fence off a bit of Japan? It had to be an island?
0:07:06 > 0:07:10Yes. I think the idea was, by surrounding it with the ocean,
0:07:10 > 0:07:15that they could prevent the intermingling as much as possible.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21Brian Burke-Gaffney is a history professor and Nagasaki resident.
0:07:21 > 0:07:26He's written about Glover and has offered to be my guide.
0:07:28 > 0:07:30So, this was the previously closed world
0:07:30 > 0:07:33- that Glover finally penetrated? - Yes.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36- There's a very interesting photograph...- Great.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39..that shows probably this exact location.
0:07:39 > 0:07:43- That's the view from this window? - Yes. You can see that the harbour was right there.
0:07:43 > 0:07:47- Look at the view! You're looking out at a huge harbour!- Yes.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50And now there's shops and telegraph poles.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54At the beginning, the only Japanese that he would really have made contact with
0:07:54 > 0:07:59was the representatives of the Magistrates Office and interpreters
0:07:59 > 0:08:04and, to a certain extent, some merchants who were beginning to trade,
0:08:04 > 0:08:05and Japanese women.
0:08:05 > 0:08:10Thomas Glover's early relationships with Japanese women,
0:08:10 > 0:08:13I think, is all part of his lore.
0:08:13 > 0:08:15It must've been like a foreign planet,
0:08:15 > 0:08:19the world of Japan he encountered would've been so foreign,
0:08:19 > 0:08:21in a way that's hard for us to imagine.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24In a sense. And full of potential.
0:08:24 > 0:08:27"If we can do this, we can do this."
0:08:27 > 0:08:32- There was just an infinite... - Everything must've seemed possible.
0:08:40 > 0:08:44And anything was possible for Thomas Glover.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48New trade treaties allowed him to buy and export tea and silk
0:08:48 > 0:08:51and set up a base on mainland Nagasaki.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54But to kick-start his business,
0:08:54 > 0:08:57first, he had to find the right palms to grease.
0:09:00 > 0:09:05In Shanghai, Glover had learned that the first principle of successful business
0:09:05 > 0:09:09was to be streetwise, savvy, keep in with the right people.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13But who were the influential contacts to make here?
0:09:15 > 0:09:18'He would need to appeal to the mercantile spirit
0:09:18 > 0:09:20'he hoped was common the world over...'
0:09:20 > 0:09:23Have you been to Scotland?
0:09:23 > 0:09:28'..and, of course, which still exists today.'
0:09:30 > 0:09:33THEY SPEAK JAPANESE
0:09:34 > 0:09:38- It's pasta. It's very good pasta. - OK.
0:09:38 > 0:09:40One minute...
0:09:40 > 0:09:43One minute. Very, very fast pasta.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47And I could sell this in the UK, in Scotland?
0:09:47 > 0:09:50MAN SPEAKS JAPANESE
0:09:53 > 0:09:56This is great. This is Thomas Glover-land.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58I have now made a contact
0:09:58 > 0:10:02where I can sell perfect pasta in Scotland
0:10:02 > 0:10:05that this gentlemen makes. That's how it's done.
0:10:05 > 0:10:07MAN SPEAKS JAPANESE
0:10:21 > 0:10:25Amongst all the other challenges that he faced...
0:10:26 > 0:10:29..he had to learn the language.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32And he managed to pull off that feat in double-quick time.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36I'm going to see if I can learn it before I get to the top of the cable car.
0:10:38 > 0:10:40INSTRUCTOR SPEAKS JAPANESE
0:10:40 > 0:10:43HE REPEATS JAPANESE PHRASES
0:10:48 > 0:10:52INSTRUCTOR: "Where is the station?" INSTRUCTOR SPEAKS JAPANESE
0:10:52 > 0:10:54HE REPEATS JAPANESE PHRASES
0:10:58 > 0:11:03- INSTRUCTOR: "Please help me." - Please help me.
0:11:07 > 0:11:12But his challenges weren't limited to just learning the language.
0:11:12 > 0:11:17Unbeknown to Glover, this was a country in political meltdown.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22Although emperors had ruled Japan for hundreds of years,
0:11:22 > 0:11:27Glover soon learned that they ruled nothing at all.
0:11:28 > 0:11:33It was the head of the military, the Shogun, who held the real power.
0:11:34 > 0:11:39His military dictatorship held the country in a vice-like grip.
0:11:39 > 0:11:45The emperor was under virtual house arrest at the Imperial Palace in Kyoto.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49He had been sidelined,
0:11:49 > 0:11:53kept more than 400 kilometres from where the real business of state was happening,
0:11:53 > 0:11:56the shogun city of Edo.
0:12:00 > 0:12:06It was in Edo that the foreign powers opened their embassies, not Kyoto.
0:12:06 > 0:12:10Kyoto was a place for students and artists, monks and nuns,
0:12:10 > 0:12:14people who, politically speaking, where merely ornamental.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16Like the emperor himself.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20Japan was divided into clans,
0:12:20 > 0:12:24whose territories spread the length of the country.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27the southern clans felt the Shogun's monopoly on taxes and trade
0:12:27 > 0:12:30was oppressive and unfair.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34They felt caged, unable to move forward and prosper.
0:12:34 > 0:12:36Nagasaki was tense.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40To Glover, it must've seemed like a lawless frontier town,
0:12:40 > 0:12:43the Wild, Wild East.
0:12:43 > 0:12:48Everyday was high noon, disputes settled not by gun-slinging cowboys
0:12:48 > 0:12:51but by the clans' warriors,
0:12:51 > 0:12:54sword-wielding Samurai.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57THEY GRUNT
0:13:03 > 0:13:08What is it exactly that the men here are practicing cutting?
0:13:42 > 0:13:45HE INSTRUCTS IN JAPANESE
0:13:50 > 0:13:53The truth is, I'm terrified I'm about to cut my own leg off!
0:14:01 > 0:14:04- HE CHUCKLES - Didn't work very well!
0:14:17 > 0:14:21EXCITED CHATTER AND APPLAUSE
0:14:25 > 0:14:27I think I've done enough.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30Thank you.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33MAN GRUNTS
0:14:38 > 0:14:41There was a purpose to all this practice.
0:14:41 > 0:14:46The Samurai were proud, menacing, sent to intimidate,
0:14:46 > 0:14:51and were, above all, driven by complicated notions of status and honour.
0:14:52 > 0:14:58I sometimes think the Victorian British men and the Samurai
0:14:58 > 0:15:00have certain things in common.
0:15:00 > 0:15:06There's a lot of pride, there's a lot of obsession with class and hierarchy,
0:15:06 > 0:15:11and it's a shame that they didn't see those similarities in one another.
0:15:55 > 0:15:57There was a lot to learn.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00Japan was a complicated, fractured place.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03The different clan territories were brought together uneasily
0:16:03 > 0:16:06under the rule of the emperor and Shogun.
0:16:06 > 0:16:11Nagasaki was the domain of a powerful clan called the Satsuma.
0:16:11 > 0:16:15It was their samurai that Glover needed to befriend,
0:16:15 > 0:16:18although their reputation was fearsome.
0:16:20 > 0:16:22The law in Japan permitted the Samurai
0:16:22 > 0:16:26to summarily execute anyone who gave them offence.
0:16:26 > 0:16:30But the Samurai code of morality and honour, called Bushido, was mysterious.
0:16:30 > 0:16:36Giving offence might mean no more than failing to give way to one of them in a public street,
0:16:36 > 0:16:40a faux pas that might be solved in Britain with a simple "excuse me".
0:16:40 > 0:16:45The Samurai rebuke was quite a bit sharper.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53In September of 1862,
0:16:53 > 0:16:57a party of four British merchants, one woman and three men,
0:16:57 > 0:16:59left Yokohama on horseback.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03They encountered a Satsuma procession
0:17:03 > 0:17:05travelling towards the Shogun city of Edo,
0:17:05 > 0:17:08failed to clear the road, as etiquette demanded,
0:17:08 > 0:17:10and paid the price.
0:17:11 > 0:17:13Two men were mutilated
0:17:13 > 0:17:17and one other, Charles Richardson, died of his wounds.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26The British Government sent messages to both the Shogun and the Satsuma clan leader,
0:17:26 > 0:17:29demanding the execution of those responsible
0:17:29 > 0:17:33and a payment of 100,000 in compensation.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37It threw the trading community into a panic.
0:17:37 > 0:17:39Now there was not just the threat of civil war,
0:17:39 > 0:17:42but war against Britain, too.
0:17:42 > 0:17:47The British would not wait indefinitely for an apology from the Satsuma.
0:17:47 > 0:17:51Many foreigners started packing and prepared to flee.
0:17:57 > 0:17:59But not Glover.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03Within months of Richardson's murder, while tension mounted,
0:18:03 > 0:18:07he moved into his first permanent residence in Nagasaki.
0:18:08 > 0:18:10It's a huge, imposing place,
0:18:10 > 0:18:16testament to the growing success of his business and of his bravado.
0:18:16 > 0:18:18By the time he moved in,
0:18:18 > 0:18:21he's been living in Nagasaki for three years.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23He was only 24.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30Brian, do you think, by some chance,
0:18:30 > 0:18:36there was something about Glover as an individual that chimed with the Japanese spirit?
0:18:36 > 0:18:39Did they seem him as some kind of kindred spirit?
0:18:39 > 0:18:44I definitely think there was probably a factor like that.
0:18:44 > 0:18:48The British or, more specifically perhaps, Scottish spirit
0:18:48 > 0:18:50or personality or something,
0:18:50 > 0:18:53being very careful to follow through on promises,
0:18:53 > 0:18:58not bragging and sort of a self-deprecating attitude,
0:18:58 > 0:19:00making fun of one's self...
0:19:00 > 0:19:04- Is that a Japanese characteristic? - Very much, and I think also British.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07Sort of, "It's no big deal!"
0:19:07 > 0:19:12In photographs, he's a very striking, handsome individual.
0:19:12 > 0:19:17- Do you think just the way he looked and carried himself gave him an advantage?- Yes.
0:19:17 > 0:19:19- Obviously, he was a good-looking man. - Yes.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23You really the impression by everyone gathered around him
0:19:23 > 0:19:28that he was the centre of attention and the leader of the foreign community.
0:19:28 > 0:19:32As you say, he had this natural leadership,
0:19:32 > 0:19:35and it was based partly on his physical bearing,
0:19:35 > 0:19:40but also on his personality.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46Glover stood out from the crowd in other ways, too.
0:19:46 > 0:19:48Unlike his fellow Britons,
0:19:48 > 0:19:51he took a distinctly unpatriotic stance
0:19:51 > 0:19:53and began to do business with the Satsuma,
0:19:53 > 0:19:57against whom the British Government were threatening war.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01He became one of the only traders to leave the safety of the foreign district
0:20:01 > 0:20:04and ply his trade in the Nagasaki tea rooms
0:20:04 > 0:20:07that were on Satsuma turf.
0:20:14 > 0:20:18This is a letter from the British Consul in Nagasaki.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21"Mr Glover is fluent in the Japanese language
0:20:21 > 0:20:26"and is on terms of intimacy and friendship with many Japanese of rank,
0:20:26 > 0:20:30"amongst whom he is much esteemed."
0:20:46 > 0:20:49A year after Charles Richardson was murdered,
0:20:49 > 0:20:54seven of the British Navy's finest ships sailed into Kagoshima Bay
0:20:54 > 0:20:58and trained their guns on the southern Japanese town.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02Kagoshima was the capital of the Satsuma clan.
0:21:02 > 0:21:07Almost a year had passed since the British had demanded reparations, executions and apologies,
0:21:07 > 0:21:10and the Satsuma clan had made no sensible response.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15It was time for gunboat diplomacy
0:21:15 > 0:21:19on a pleasingly uneven playing field.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22The British flagship carried new Armstrong Guns
0:21:22 > 0:21:25which boasted greater range and greater accuracy,
0:21:25 > 0:21:29and the shells themselves were explosive.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32And the Japanese?
0:21:32 > 0:21:35They had a range of offensive antiques,
0:21:35 > 0:21:38cannons, not guns.
0:21:38 > 0:21:40The cannonballs were mere lumps of metal.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43They carried no explosive charge.
0:21:47 > 0:21:52The mighty British fleet expected no resistance at all.
0:21:59 > 0:22:04On the day of the bombardment, where was the British fleet?
0:22:04 > 0:22:10British fleet, from north to south, they centred on line.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14So they were right along the line that we're crossing now.
0:22:14 > 0:22:18Yes. And we are crossing the English fleet.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21- So, they would've been shelling over our heads.- Yes!
0:22:21 > 0:22:26Pouring fiercely over our heads!
0:22:28 > 0:22:29EXPLOSIONS
0:22:29 > 0:22:32The Japanese did remarkably well.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35Their antique cannons killed 13.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38But because the Satsuma evacuated the city in advance,
0:22:38 > 0:22:40the British killed only five.
0:22:40 > 0:22:45But in terms of destruction, it was a clear British victory.
0:22:45 > 0:22:51Much of the wood-and-paper city of Kagoshima went up in flames.
0:22:56 > 0:23:01The Japanese reaction was surprising, to say the least.
0:23:48 > 0:23:50The Satsuma clan had no choice.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54Forced into open rebellion, they vowed to fight for a new Japan,
0:23:54 > 0:23:58even if it meant taking on the Shogun.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05But in order to succeed, they would need firepower
0:24:05 > 0:24:08as mesmerising as the British Navy's.
0:24:10 > 0:24:12The Satsuma fell in love.
0:24:12 > 0:24:16The ease and the speed of the destruction were ravishing.
0:24:16 > 0:24:20They realised at once that they desperately needed modern European weapons
0:24:20 > 0:24:22and it would be easy to get them.
0:24:22 > 0:24:27All they had to do was sail 100 miles or so in that direction to the town of Nagasaki.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30Waiting for them there would be a fearless trader,
0:24:30 > 0:24:34an entrepreneur, who might be able to get them anything and everything they wanted,
0:24:34 > 0:24:37so long as their money was good.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53JAPANESE-STYLE MUSIC
0:24:55 > 0:24:56They weren't wrong.
0:24:56 > 0:25:00Glover was becoming part of the fabric in Nagasaki,
0:25:00 > 0:25:03exploiting newfound friendships and connections.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08He had no qualms about procuring ships for the Satsuma Samurai
0:25:08 > 0:25:11to replace those they lost at Kagoshima.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14It was more profitable than tea.
0:25:14 > 0:25:18But the British Government looked upon the situation quite differently.
0:25:18 > 0:25:22The Satsuma were regarded as their enemy.
0:25:22 > 0:25:24Sitting on the fringes of the empire, however,
0:25:24 > 0:25:29traders like Glover felt they could do business with whomever they pleased.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34It seems that Glover dispassionate approach to business
0:25:34 > 0:25:37extended to his treatment of women.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40During his early years in Japan, he had countless affairs
0:25:40 > 0:25:43and fathered many illegitimate children,
0:25:43 > 0:25:48always working away from any attachment or obligation.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04'But what the Satsuma rebels requested next
0:26:04 > 0:26:06'was far more dangerous.
0:26:06 > 0:26:10'They put in an order for 3,000 rifles.'
0:26:10 > 0:26:12- This is the mini?- Yes.
0:26:12 > 0:26:16'This was a step beyond just trade.'
0:26:17 > 0:26:20That's amazing. Very heavy. Very heavy.
0:26:22 > 0:26:27What can you say specifically about these two rifles?
0:26:40 > 0:26:42Ah, Tower, yes.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47Victoria's crown.
0:26:50 > 0:26:52Once they had weapons like this,
0:26:52 > 0:26:57did it change the way the clans fought one another?
0:27:16 > 0:27:19Would you say that Glover had blood on his hands,
0:27:19 > 0:27:24given the fact that he was bringing in this kind of weaponry?
0:27:54 > 0:27:58This was a significant turning point for Glover.
0:27:58 > 0:28:02With no apparent misgivings, he switched from trading tea
0:28:02 > 0:28:05to the more profitable enterprise of running guns.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08But while no-one died from drinking his tea,
0:28:08 > 0:28:12they did in large numbers while facing his weapons.
0:28:15 > 0:28:21I think it's unfair to criticize Glover for trading in rifles
0:28:21 > 0:28:24because he was a product of his time.
0:28:24 > 0:28:27He was a Son of the British Empire.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30He lived in a time when...
0:28:30 > 0:28:34..Britain's greatest pride was based around a martial culture
0:28:34 > 0:28:37of the army and the navy.
0:28:37 > 0:28:43The world had not yet seen conflict on the scale of the world wars.
0:28:43 > 0:28:46No-one could've foreseen that kind of devastation.
0:28:46 > 0:28:50In Glover's day, battles were self-contained, fought by professional soldiers.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52Civilians weren't involved.
0:28:52 > 0:28:55So I think to see any wrongdoing
0:28:55 > 0:29:00in a young man seeking to make a profit from selling rifles here, then,
0:29:00 > 0:29:02is just naive.
0:29:09 > 0:29:11By 1863, Glover was supplying rifles
0:29:11 > 0:29:13not just to the Satsuma,
0:29:13 > 0:29:15but to all sides -
0:29:15 > 0:29:19to the Satsuma's rival clans and to the Shogun.
0:29:19 > 0:29:23Business was business, after all.
0:29:23 > 0:29:25But there is evidence that it's now
0:29:25 > 0:29:28that Glover makes a momentous decision.
0:29:28 > 0:29:30He takes sides.
0:29:32 > 0:29:36His friend, Tomoatsu Godai, a Satsuma Samurai,
0:29:36 > 0:29:40had written a manifesto for the clan's future
0:29:40 > 0:29:44which called for the acquisition of not just guns for the rebel cause
0:29:44 > 0:29:48but industrial expertise, too.
0:29:48 > 0:29:50Glover could see it made sense.
0:29:52 > 0:29:57Glover also realised that the rebel clans would need more than just guns and ships,
0:29:57 > 0:29:59they would need an education.
0:30:03 > 0:30:05They would need to see for themselves
0:30:05 > 0:30:08how the world's leading industrial nation worked.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11This was Glover's moment.
0:30:11 > 0:30:15He would help smuggle a chosen few to Britain.
0:30:15 > 0:30:20In a highly risky operation, the defectors left on one of Glover's ships,
0:30:20 > 0:30:23not certain if they would ever return.
0:30:23 > 0:30:25They were very young.
0:30:25 > 0:30:31The Satsuma 19, as they were known, were some of the brightest students of their age.
0:30:31 > 0:30:34The youngest was only 13
0:30:34 > 0:30:37and Glover sent him to stay with his parents
0:30:37 > 0:30:40and to study at his old school in Aberdeen.
0:30:41 > 0:30:47It was all strictly illegal, of course, as no Japanese were allowed to leave the country.
0:30:47 > 0:30:51Had the Shogun ever found out, Glover would've been expelled from Japan.
0:30:51 > 0:30:55But as it turned out, those young men were one of Glover's wisest investments.
0:30:57 > 0:31:01Among the young rebels sent to Britain were not only his friend Godai,
0:31:01 > 0:31:03but also Ito Hirobumi,
0:31:03 > 0:31:09who would serve no less than four terms as prime minster in the new Japan.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13But in June, 1865,
0:31:13 > 0:31:16the new Japan seemed very far away indeed.
0:31:20 > 0:31:25The British reinforced their support for the Shogun by sending Sir Harry Parkes,
0:31:25 > 0:31:29the recently appointed Minister for Japan.
0:31:29 > 0:31:31He was an experienced diplomat
0:31:31 > 0:31:35who'd already cut a dash during China's Opium Wars.
0:31:35 > 0:31:38He was a safe pair of hands whose job it was
0:31:38 > 0:31:42to ensure the survival of Britain's lucrative trading relationship
0:31:42 > 0:31:45through what appeared to be looming civil war.
0:31:45 > 0:31:50The British Government were convinced the Shogun would ultimately prevail,
0:31:50 > 0:31:53so Parkes must openly support his regime
0:31:53 > 0:31:56and help to preserve the status quo.
0:31:56 > 0:31:59He arrived in Nagasaki in June, 1865,
0:31:59 > 0:32:02aboard the warship Princess Royal.
0:32:02 > 0:32:07Among the British traders heading to the waterfront to meet him was Thomas Glover.
0:32:08 > 0:32:12Parkes took the leading British residents out for a very good dinner.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16But given Parkes' very British loyalty to the Shogun
0:32:16 > 0:32:19and Glover's growing allegiance to the Satsuma,
0:32:19 > 0:32:22their meeting was probably frosty.
0:32:27 > 0:32:31I'm dining in the Kagetsu restaurant in Nagasaki.
0:32:31 > 0:32:35This establishment has been trading for something like...
0:32:35 > 0:32:38..375 years.
0:32:38 > 0:32:42It's almost certain that Glover would've come here
0:32:42 > 0:32:47and it may even have been the meeting for his meeting with Sir Harry Parkes.
0:32:54 > 0:32:57Years later, in the only interview he ever gave,
0:32:57 > 0:33:00Glover told a historian the following...
0:33:00 > 0:33:03"At about one 'clock, when supper was finished,
0:33:03 > 0:33:05"everyone left except Parkes and I.
0:33:05 > 0:33:10"Parkes said, 'Somehow, I have to help the Shogun for the future of Japan.'
0:33:10 > 0:33:12"I said, 'You don't know it yet,
0:33:12 > 0:33:16'but today, the power in Japan is in the hands of the rebel clans.'
0:33:16 > 0:33:19'Japan's fate depends on them.'
0:33:19 > 0:33:22"Parkes didn't agree with me. We talked till dawn.
0:33:22 > 0:33:27"Parkes couldn't decide whether he should support the Shogun or the rebel clans."
0:33:30 > 0:33:33It was quite common for traders like Glover,
0:33:33 > 0:33:35operating on the empire's frontiers,
0:33:35 > 0:33:39to pass on local knowledge to Foreign Office officials.
0:33:39 > 0:33:42But Glover had more than just local knowledge.
0:33:42 > 0:33:45He'd already made friends with the enemy.
0:33:45 > 0:33:49There's no written evidence for what happened over the next six months,
0:33:49 > 0:33:52of how hard Glover worked behind the scenes.
0:33:52 > 0:33:55But in early 1866,
0:33:55 > 0:33:58Lord Shimadzu, head of the Satsuma clan,
0:33:58 > 0:34:02asked Glover to pass on a message to Sir Harry Parkes.
0:34:03 > 0:34:05It was short and sweet.
0:34:05 > 0:34:09It read, "We were once at war with each other, now we want friendship with you.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12"Please come to Kagoshima at once."
0:34:14 > 0:34:16Glover accompanied Parkes
0:34:16 > 0:34:19and they were met with lavish hospitality.
0:34:19 > 0:34:21They were treated to a ceremonial dinner,
0:34:21 > 0:34:26which a London newspaper recorded involved an extravagant 40 courses.
0:34:29 > 0:34:34This was the Satsumas' chance to impress upon the British minister that the Shogun were finished
0:34:34 > 0:34:38and that a new, modern Japan was the way forward.
0:34:39 > 0:34:44The current Lord Shimadzu is the great, great grandson of the clan leader who met Parkes.
0:34:44 > 0:34:50He's recreated for me that famous dinner from 1866.
0:34:56 > 0:34:59Given that these dishes are from 150 years ago,
0:34:59 > 0:35:02are they, in any way, unfamiliar to you
0:35:02 > 0:35:06or is this still the kind of food that you are accustomed to?
0:35:24 > 0:35:26Is this lamprey?
0:35:27 > 0:35:31I'm going to dip that in there. I don't know if that's the right thing to do.
0:35:36 > 0:35:39It's a minefield, a culinary minefield.
0:36:22 > 0:36:25- Kanpai.- Kanpai.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28'The food must've been good, because by the end of the dinner
0:36:28 > 0:36:31'they were toasting a new and important political reality.'
0:36:31 > 0:36:34I wasn't ready for that!
0:36:35 > 0:36:38The British minister no longer supported the Shogun,
0:36:38 > 0:36:42and the Satsuma had tacit approval to start a war.
0:36:43 > 0:36:46And a bloody civil war did come.
0:36:52 > 0:36:56The Boshin War began in the Year of the Earth Dragon.
0:36:57 > 0:37:00100,000 troops were mobilised.
0:37:03 > 0:37:05After three years of fighting
0:37:05 > 0:37:08and barely a decade since Japan opened its doors to the West,
0:37:08 > 0:37:10the old order was toppled.
0:37:10 > 0:37:14The rebel clans defeated the Shogun with rifles and shells,
0:37:14 > 0:37:19modern weapons of war that Glover had gladly sold them.
0:37:19 > 0:37:22Then they set about change.
0:37:23 > 0:37:28They renamed the Emperor's reign The Era of Meiji, or enlightenment.
0:37:28 > 0:37:32They moved the emperor to Edo, the centre of power.
0:37:33 > 0:37:37Even the city was given a new name. Tokyo.
0:37:37 > 0:37:40Japan's borders would indeed be open at last
0:37:40 > 0:37:42for all manner of commercial initiatives.
0:37:42 > 0:37:46It was the progress that Glover and the Satsuma had been hoping for.
0:37:49 > 0:37:53And then, on the 1st January, 1873,
0:37:53 > 0:37:56the Satsuma abolished the past.
0:37:56 > 0:37:59European-style clocks were to be used.
0:37:59 > 0:38:03"We have no history", one of the Japanese elite commented at the time.
0:38:03 > 0:38:06"Our history begins today."
0:38:06 > 0:38:09Here was the new Japan that Thomas Glover had worked for,
0:38:09 > 0:38:12complete with the present tense,
0:38:12 > 0:38:16but not without its challenges.
0:38:18 > 0:38:23Unlike Britain, that already had a century and more of industrial revolution,
0:38:23 > 0:38:26here was an almost medieval country,
0:38:26 > 0:38:30with few ships, no railways, no modern means of communication,
0:38:30 > 0:38:34no ways of manufacturing its own goods, no infrastructure.
0:38:34 > 0:38:37It was going to be a truly Herculean task
0:38:37 > 0:38:40to drag Japan fully into the 19th century.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59When Glover arrived in Japan,
0:38:59 > 0:39:05was there any trace of the modern world there or was it a blank canvas?
0:39:05 > 0:39:07I think it was quite,
0:39:07 > 0:39:10you know, quite backward at the time.
0:39:10 > 0:39:16We were not exposed to Western technology for two centuries.
0:39:16 > 0:39:20We knew how to use an abacus,
0:39:20 > 0:39:22but sine, cosine, the steam engine,
0:39:22 > 0:39:27physics, Western science, geology,
0:39:27 > 0:39:30map measuring, machinery,
0:39:30 > 0:39:33we were not exposed at the time.
0:39:33 > 0:39:35And all of a sudden,
0:39:35 > 0:39:38all the Western technology and information came
0:39:38 > 0:39:41when we opened the door,
0:39:41 > 0:39:45and at the time, Glover was there to help.
0:39:45 > 0:39:48We are a manufacturing country
0:39:48 > 0:39:53and that foundation is built in...
0:39:53 > 0:39:58..from 1850s to 1920, 1930,
0:39:58 > 0:40:01that period of time they built the foundation,
0:40:01 > 0:40:07and Glover was a crucial contributor
0:40:07 > 0:40:09for the transformation
0:40:09 > 0:40:13of this society and economy.
0:40:19 > 0:40:21'With no industrial infrastructure in place,
0:40:21 > 0:40:24'Glover's task was daunting.
0:40:24 > 0:40:28'But he realised the first steps to modernisation
0:40:28 > 0:40:30'lay right under his feet.'
0:40:30 > 0:40:32It's like something from Willy Wonka!
0:40:32 > 0:40:34HE LAUGHS
0:40:35 > 0:40:38Glover was like a time traveller.
0:40:38 > 0:40:41His basic knowledge of British industry and invention
0:40:41 > 0:40:44was light years ahead of the Japanese.
0:40:45 > 0:40:50He knew that industrial progress demanded endless supplies of coal.
0:40:50 > 0:40:55So when he visited the primitive mineworkings around Nagasaki that dug very near the surface,
0:40:55 > 0:40:58he saw the future.
0:40:58 > 0:41:04He saw his own future, in fact, as a very rich man indeed.
0:41:06 > 0:41:08Glover realised that with British technology,
0:41:08 > 0:41:12he could reach further underground and find richer seams of coal.
0:41:12 > 0:41:17For Glover, this knowledge was money in the bank.
0:41:17 > 0:41:20He'd buy a mine and lead the way.
0:41:20 > 0:41:24Takashima Mine, on an island near Nagasaki, would be his.
0:41:24 > 0:41:26It would make him more than a trader,
0:41:26 > 0:41:29it would make him an owner.
0:41:34 > 0:41:41The next step in Glover's plan was to kick-start the industry that most needed his coal.
0:41:43 > 0:41:46Why is this dock special?
0:41:46 > 0:41:50This is the oldest slipway in Japan
0:41:50 > 0:41:55and it's been designated an important historic site by the Japanese Government for that reason.
0:41:55 > 0:42:00Thomas Glover established this slipway in 1868
0:42:00 > 0:42:04and it was revolutionary at the time because it used machines and steam engines
0:42:04 > 0:42:08to pull ships up on the slipway in order to repair them.
0:42:08 > 0:42:09As these things go,
0:42:09 > 0:42:14- was this slipway state of the art when it was completed?- Yes.
0:42:14 > 0:42:18Thomas Glover, through his brother Charles, who was living in Aberdeen at the time,
0:42:18 > 0:42:23arranged for the construction of all these materials,
0:42:23 > 0:42:26and they were built at a company called Hall Russell & Company.
0:42:26 > 0:42:31Everything was carried on a ship, again, built in Aberdeen, specifically for that purpose.
0:42:31 > 0:42:34- This was made in Scotland? - Everything is made in Scotland,
0:42:34 > 0:42:36all those railings, the steam engines.
0:42:36 > 0:42:42It continues to this day, kind of a silent testimony to Scottish-Japanese relations.
0:42:43 > 0:42:46By the time Glover's people were installing this,
0:42:46 > 0:42:51Britain had had 100 years to get used to this.
0:42:51 > 0:42:57How can you drop a technology like this onto a people
0:42:57 > 0:43:01and expect them to, you know, maintain it, operate it?
0:43:01 > 0:43:04It shows the ability, I think, of the Japanese people.
0:43:04 > 0:43:09Even the very early visitors commented on the curiosity of the people.
0:43:09 > 0:43:12They're so eager to learn things.
0:43:12 > 0:43:15This is exactly Thomas Glover's contribution.
0:43:15 > 0:43:17He didn't just sell the equipment to Japan,
0:43:17 > 0:43:21he provided the expert tutelage, or supervision.
0:43:21 > 0:43:25He would bring the equipment, but also bring the experts to teach the Japanese.
0:43:25 > 0:43:31His investment wasn't just business, it was also in education, it was in the future.
0:43:31 > 0:43:36I think the Japanese people looked to Britain in particular for guidance
0:43:36 > 0:43:40and as a model for the way that they should proceed.
0:43:40 > 0:43:43So Glover was the right man,
0:43:43 > 0:43:46at the right time, in the right place.
0:43:53 > 0:43:57And from then on, everything snowballed.
0:43:57 > 0:43:59Glover brought in experts to build lighthouses,
0:43:59 > 0:44:02revolutionised communications,
0:44:02 > 0:44:07and introduced new ways of manufacturing everything, from beer to banknotes.
0:44:08 > 0:44:11No wonder, then, that with the help of Glover,
0:44:11 > 0:44:14Japan's Industrial Revolution would last only 50 years,
0:44:14 > 0:44:18a third of the time it had taken in Britain.
0:44:18 > 0:44:21Japan would sprout an infrastructure of roads,
0:44:21 > 0:44:25railways, manufacturing, a postal system,
0:44:25 > 0:44:27schools and universities,
0:44:27 > 0:44:31and become economically self-sufficient -
0:44:31 > 0:44:33all in Glover's lifetime.
0:44:47 > 0:44:50Glover introduced the idea of the railway to Japan
0:44:50 > 0:44:55by importing and installing a model steam train.
0:44:55 > 0:44:59The Japanese were so inspired that they effectively made it their own.
0:44:59 > 0:45:04They had been without the influence of modern technological advances for two centuries
0:45:04 > 0:45:08and so the idea landed like a seed on fertile ground.
0:45:08 > 0:45:11They didn't just copy the idea of the train,
0:45:11 > 0:45:14they made it their own and made it something new,
0:45:14 > 0:45:18like this, Shinkansen, the Bullet Train.
0:45:38 > 0:45:42By 1885, Glover had settled down.
0:45:42 > 0:45:46He'd gone through a form of marriage with a woman named Tsuru.
0:45:46 > 0:45:49She later gave birth to their daughter, Hana.
0:45:49 > 0:45:54Tomisaburo was Glover's abandoned son from a previous relationship.
0:45:54 > 0:45:58The couple officially adopted him in 1888.
0:45:59 > 0:46:02Glover still had other sidelines as far as sex was concerned,
0:46:02 > 0:46:06but this was the family he would stand by for the rest of his life.
0:46:09 > 0:46:12Years later, rumours would circulate
0:46:12 > 0:46:15that Giacomo Puccini's world-famous opera Madame Butterfly
0:46:15 > 0:46:18was based on the life of Thomas Blake Glover.
0:46:21 > 0:46:24The opera is the tragic story of a young Japanese girl
0:46:24 > 0:46:28who falls in love with an American called Pinkerton.
0:46:28 > 0:46:31She bears his son and is then abandoned by him.
0:46:32 > 0:46:34Its message is clear -
0:46:34 > 0:46:38there are hidden dangers in two very different cultures colliding.
0:46:39 > 0:46:43SHE SINGS ARIA FROM "Madame Butterfly"
0:46:54 > 0:46:56By the time of the opera's release,
0:46:56 > 0:47:00Glover's son was a man uncomfortably wedged between two worlds.
0:47:00 > 0:47:03He'd gone so far as to sail back to Aberdeen
0:47:03 > 0:47:07to visit the rest of his father's family.
0:47:07 > 0:47:08There are photographs -
0:47:08 > 0:47:11he perches at the edge of the Glover family group
0:47:11 > 0:47:16in thoroughly British tweeds and cap, teacup and saucer in hand.
0:47:16 > 0:47:19But he still looks completely Japanese.
0:47:22 > 0:47:26Beyond his son, the resemblance to Pinkerton ends.
0:47:28 > 0:47:32While Pinkerton was bewitched by a 15-year-old geisha girl,
0:47:32 > 0:47:36Glover's life was bound up with a quite different tragic romance -
0:47:36 > 0:47:40that of Japan's obsession with modern means of destruction.
0:47:45 > 0:47:49With Glover's assistance, Japan had become something new.
0:47:50 > 0:47:54With the opening of its borders, Japan had started to measure itself
0:47:54 > 0:47:57against other nations and their achievements.
0:47:59 > 0:48:02On the world stage, what better role model was there than Britain?
0:48:04 > 0:48:10After all, Japan was also a small island nation with grand ambitions.
0:48:11 > 0:48:18So between 1894 and 1945, Japan set out to build an empire of its own.
0:48:20 > 0:48:23And Glover, like an imperial godfather,
0:48:23 > 0:48:24helped set them on their way.
0:48:38 > 0:48:41Japan defeated the Chinese in 1895.
0:48:46 > 0:48:48After China came Russia's capitulation.
0:48:51 > 0:48:56By 1905, Japan's Navy was the third biggest in the world.
0:49:02 > 0:49:05The Japanese flagship at the Battle of the Sea of Japan,
0:49:05 > 0:49:09the Mikasa, is now a memorial ship here at Yokosuka.
0:49:09 > 0:49:11The Japanese Navy captured or destroyed
0:49:11 > 0:49:15almost all of the 38 Russian ships deployed against them.
0:49:15 > 0:49:17A British commentator described it
0:49:17 > 0:49:21as the most complete and decisive naval victory in history.
0:49:28 > 0:49:31Credit for the Russian fleet's final collapse
0:49:31 > 0:49:34went to Admiral Togo Heihachiro,
0:49:34 > 0:49:39a Satsuma whose first experience of battle had been 40 years before
0:49:39 > 0:49:41as he watched the mighty British Navy
0:49:41 > 0:49:45burn his home town of Kagoshima to the ground.
0:49:45 > 0:49:48He embodied the changes in the Japanese military
0:49:48 > 0:49:49that Glover had enabled.
0:49:49 > 0:49:52He had gone from sword-wielding boy
0:49:52 > 0:49:55to the captain of the most deadly warship of its day.
0:50:04 > 0:50:08During his 50-odd years in Japan, Glover had introduced the country
0:50:08 > 0:50:14to modern warfare, modern shipping, modern docks, modern currency,
0:50:14 > 0:50:17modern manufacturing methods, modern mining.
0:50:19 > 0:50:22Glover even founded the country's first brewing company,
0:50:22 > 0:50:23and the company, Kirin,
0:50:23 > 0:50:27still sells most of the beer drunk in Japan today.
0:50:30 > 0:50:34One day in 1908, Glover paid a visit to the Imperial Palace
0:50:34 > 0:50:37of the Emperor Meiji in Tokyo.
0:50:37 > 0:50:40There he received the Order of the Rising Sun, 2nd Degree,
0:50:40 > 0:50:42for his services to the empire.
0:50:42 > 0:50:46The document justifying the award listed the services.
0:50:46 > 0:50:48It was 20 pages long.
0:50:52 > 0:50:59This is the formal document asking the Emperor
0:50:59 > 0:51:03to confer the decoration to Mr Glover.
0:51:03 > 0:51:06How unusual was it for a man like Glover, a Westerner,
0:51:06 > 0:51:08to receive this level of honour?
0:51:08 > 0:51:11It was very exceptional
0:51:11 > 0:51:14for the foreigners to receive such high honours,
0:51:14 > 0:51:21and Glover's decoration is all the more exceptional
0:51:21 > 0:51:26because it does refer to his contribution
0:51:26 > 0:51:32that he made when Japan had modernised its country,
0:51:32 > 0:51:38because during the days of samurai, Japanese warrior,
0:51:38 > 0:51:42the most precious commodity was honour.
0:51:42 > 0:51:47So his former friends accorded him with the highest honour.
0:51:58 > 0:52:03In 1910, Glover gave his one and only interview to a historian.
0:52:03 > 0:52:05He concluded the interview by saying,
0:52:05 > 0:52:07"I've thought about this for a long time
0:52:07 > 0:52:09"and of all the rebels who fought against the Shogun,
0:52:09 > 0:52:11"I was the greatest."
0:52:11 > 0:52:14He thought of himself as a Scottish samurai.
0:52:32 > 0:52:34And after that, it was time to die.
0:52:36 > 0:52:40Death had started to take his rebel colleagues in the last few years.
0:52:40 > 0:52:43It took Glover on 16th December, 1911.
0:52:47 > 0:52:49He was buried back home in Nagasaki,
0:52:49 > 0:52:51and this is his grave.
0:52:51 > 0:52:56He died on 16th December, and on 16th of every month,
0:52:56 > 0:53:00the local authorities here place fresh flowers on his grave
0:53:00 > 0:53:03and they set down a can of Kirin beer as a mark of respect
0:53:03 > 0:53:04or a sign of affection.
0:53:04 > 0:53:07This is Sakamoto International Cemetery,
0:53:07 > 0:53:11because after all, his was a foreign body,
0:53:11 > 0:53:13and this was the proper place for it.
0:53:13 > 0:53:16But that's not the end of the story of Thomas Blake Glover.
0:53:22 > 0:53:26Glover's enthusiasm for weapons had already infected Japan,
0:53:26 > 0:53:30and his death did nothing to halt its viral spread.
0:53:30 > 0:53:36Construction began on some of the largest battleships ever built.
0:53:36 > 0:53:38Every rivet and weld helped build their new empire.
0:53:41 > 0:53:44And of course, vast amounts of coal were required
0:53:44 > 0:53:47to fuel Japan's shipyards and armaments factories.
0:53:48 > 0:53:51Glover's mine on Takashima Island soon ran out,
0:53:51 > 0:53:56so the new owners, Mitsubishi, turned to the other islands nearby.
0:54:02 > 0:54:05On the island of Hashima, Mitsubishi went after coal
0:54:05 > 0:54:09as devotedly as Japan went after military technology.
0:54:09 > 0:54:12During the early years of the 20th century,
0:54:12 > 0:54:13its outline began to change
0:54:13 > 0:54:15until the shape resembled that of a battleship
0:54:15 > 0:54:19being built for the Japanese Imperial Navy.
0:54:19 > 0:54:23The locals changed its name to Gunkanjima - Battleship Island.
0:54:31 > 0:54:35In 1941, just 30 years after Glover's death,
0:54:35 > 0:54:38coal production peaked and Battleship Island became
0:54:38 > 0:54:41one of the most densely populated places on earth.
0:54:43 > 0:54:46Its infernal tunnels were packed with miners from Korea
0:54:46 > 0:54:48enslaved by the Japanese.
0:54:49 > 0:54:53It was the same year Japan attacked Pearl Harbour.
0:54:53 > 0:54:57What would Glover have made of Hashima
0:54:57 > 0:55:00and aggressive Japanese moves on the world stage?
0:55:00 > 0:55:02Would he even have recognised
0:55:02 > 0:55:04the Frankenstein's monster he helped create?
0:55:06 > 0:55:11But then, on 9th August, 1945, at 11.02am,
0:55:11 > 0:55:13Japanese aggression suddenly ceased,
0:55:13 > 0:55:17as did production on Takashima Island.
0:55:17 > 0:55:19The light of 1,000 suns forced the Koreans
0:55:19 > 0:55:22and their Japanese Guards to look up at the sky.
0:55:27 > 0:55:30The atom bomb was released over the city of Nagasaki,
0:55:30 > 0:55:35and in an instant, the northern part of the city simply ceased to be.
0:55:35 > 0:55:38Two thirds of the population were killed or injured.
0:55:44 > 0:55:47A few days later, the people of Japan turned on their radios
0:55:47 > 0:55:53to hear Emperor Hirohito announce the complete capitulation of Japan.
0:55:53 > 0:55:58The Emperor spoke in an ancient form of Japanese, a ceremonial language
0:55:58 > 0:56:02that only those with a samurai background could understand.
0:56:05 > 0:56:09The Emperor might have been speaking from 1863
0:56:09 > 0:56:11after the bombardment of Kagoshima.
0:56:11 > 0:56:13He might have been saying what the British had expected
0:56:13 > 0:56:17the Satsuma samurai to say as they watched their city burning.
0:56:17 > 0:56:21"Your weapons are better than ours. We surrender."
0:56:21 > 0:56:26It was the end of the affair begun by Thomas Blake Glover.
0:56:34 > 0:56:37Its militaristic ambitions may have been thwarted,
0:56:37 > 0:56:39but there are permanent reminders
0:56:39 > 0:56:42of the changes that Glover introduced to Japan.
0:56:45 > 0:56:49For Glover, his relationship with Japan, the Land of the Rising Sun,
0:56:49 > 0:56:52had been something like a love affair.
0:56:52 > 0:56:55And now, a century after his death,
0:56:55 > 0:56:59Japan remains in love with everything he stood for -
0:56:59 > 0:57:03progress, industry, modernity.
0:57:03 > 0:57:08His efforts paved the way for Japan's most famous corporations -
0:57:08 > 0:57:12Sony, Panasonic, Mitsubishi.
0:57:12 > 0:57:15Glover set Japan on a journey of lightning speed
0:57:15 > 0:57:19whose destination even he would not have recognised.
0:57:19 > 0:57:23How could he begin to imagine today's technology-hungry Tokyo
0:57:23 > 0:57:26that feels not just modern, but futuristic,
0:57:26 > 0:57:29a science-fiction film set of a place
0:57:29 > 0:57:33that shines as brightly by night as it does by day?
0:57:33 > 0:57:38Right here is the heart of a nation whose progress to the modern age,
0:57:38 > 0:57:42thanks to Thomas Glover, was faster than any other country on earth.
0:57:53 > 0:57:58Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:57:58 > 0:58:03E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk