the importance of translaters

 My previous post on Ito is incomplete: Because it does not include information on his family background (class, relatives, or how he got interested in learning English, or if he was educated and where) or if he married and had kids.

but he didn't just translate: He was the intermediary for Ms Bird to learn about Japan.

I have written elsewhere about a minor character in history: Ranald MacDonald, the Chinook/Canadian whaler who decided to visit Japan when this was illegal, and ended up teaching their translators about English and American customs. (They learned English via the Dutch businessmen who were legally there, but not correctly).

Wikipedia:

Ranald MacDonald (February 3, 1824 – August 24, 1894) was the first native English-speaker to teach the English language in Japan, including educating Einosuke Moriyama, one of the chief interpreters to handle the negotiations between Commodore Perry and the Tokugawa Shogunate.

His interest began as a child, when Japanese sailors were stranded in Washington state. (due to storms). 

more here. and here.

Biography can be borrowed from internet archive. 

again, he was not just a translator but a teacher of language and customs. And I wonder: since he was a child of a Chinook mother and an Anglo father, and lived in both worlds, did this enable him to recognize customs and ways of thinking varied, so was a better teacher than an official outsider?

One of his pupils translated for the government: Moriyama Einosuke.

As Chief Dutch Interpreter, he was later one of the chief men involved in the negotiations with Commodore Perry in regard to the opening of Japan to the outside world. Samuel Wells Williams, a member of Perry's second visit noted in 1854: A new and superior interpreter came with Saborosuke, named Moriyama Yenosuke ... He speaks English well enough to render any other interpreter unnecessary, and this will assist our intercourse greatly. He ... asked if Ronald McDonald (sic) was well, or if we knew him. ... giving us all a good impression of his education and breeding. (Williams, p.120, March 3rd 1854)[2][3][4]

Those who never traveled outside their comfort zone (the karens of the American tweetosphere come to mind) don't quite realize that not only are cultures different, but that people think differently, and words may not mean the same thing even when the translation is correct.

So in the case of Ito, MacDonald, and Moriyama, their contributions are as mediators who explain the cultural nuances along with the actual work as translators.