Word: gyokusenji
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...Gyokusenji, the Buddhist temple that in 1856 became the American consulate, is a good place to start a Shimoda excursion. Harris lived in the temple until 1857, and inside visitors will find drinking glasses, pipes and other belongings of the consul's, as well as somewhat ghastly life-size figurines of Harris and Okichi. There's also a passage from Harris's diary, engraved on a large outdoor marker, in which the New Yorker waxes severe: "At half past two p.m. of this day (Sept. 4, 1856) I hoist the first consular flag ever seen in this empire," he begins...
...Those wishing to see Okichi's grave, Gyokusenji or any other Shimoda site will not be alone. Groups of middle-aged tourists pack Shimoda, belying the town's, and Japan's, current economic slump. You won't see any orange-haired punk city kids, though; little Shimoda feels about as removed from the Babylonian crush of Tokyo as one can get. And yet, perhaps because of its special history, Shimoda is no Japanese hick town. There are English and Portuguese buttons on the atms. No one yelled "gaijin!" at me as I walked down the streets. There are funky bars...
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