In Japanese history, there are foreigners who are not particularly famous in their own countries, yet left a surprisingly clear and lasting mark on Japan itself.
This column series focuses on such figures, exploring how they came to Japan and how their presence has been remembered within Japanese cities and historical memory — sometimes quietly, sometimes in unexpected ways.
This time, the focus is on Jan Joosten, a Dutchman who arrived in Japan at the very beginning of the Edo period and spent the rest of his life closely connected to the Tokugawa regime.
From Delft to the seas of Asia
Jan Joosten van Lodensteyn was born in the late sixteenth century in Delft, a city in the Netherlands.
Today, Delft is best known as the hometown of Vermeer and for its distinctive blue-and-white ceramics.
At the time, however, Delft was also part of a rapidly expanding maritime nation. The Netherlands was emerging as a major sea power, and cities like Delft supported overseas trade and long-distance navigation.
Joosten joined a Dutch expedition and boarded the ship Liefde as a senior officer.
The ship’s pilot was an Englishman, William Adams. The voyage ended in tragedy. After a long and brutal journey, the Liefde was wrecked. Disease spread among the crew, and nearly ninety percent of them died either during the voyage or shortly after landing. In 1600, the surviving crew finally reached Bungo in Japan — present-day Ōita Prefecture on the island of Kyushu.
This accidental arrival would later come to be seen as the starting point of official relations between Japan and the Netherlands.
Service under Tokugawa Ieyasu
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| Tokugawa Ieyasu |
Immediately after their arrival, Joosten and his companions faced serious suspicion.
Christianity was already regarded as dangerous, and foreign sailors were easily assumed to be missionaries. Severe punishment was a very real possibility.
Instead, however, Joosten entered the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who would soon become shogun.
Joosten was given the Japanese name “Yayōsu” (耶揚子), a form of his original name that was easier to pronounce in Japanese. He worked as an interpreter and became involved in diplomacy and foreign affairs.
Here, a crucial twist of fate comes into play.
At the time, Spanish and Portuguese ships — along with Catholic missionaries, especially those of the Jesuit order — were active in East Asia. How to deal with Catholic missionary activity had become an important political issue for the Japanese authorities.
Although it is unlikely that the theological differences were fully understood in Japan at the time, England and the Netherlands were Protestant, not Catholic. Moreover, they were primarily engaged in commerce rather than missionary work. For these reasons, it is thought that Joosten and his companions were spared deeper scrutiny regarding religious proselytization.
Tokugawa Ieyasu’s own position at the time is also noteworthy.
Although he would later become the central figure who laid the foundations for more than three hundred years of Tokugawa rule, when the Liefde arrived, Ieyasu was still one of the most powerful warlords — just before the Battle of Sekigahara, generally regarded as the final decisive battle for the unification of Japan.
Ieyasu was known for his curiosity and his strong interest in gathering information about foreign countries. He actively sought knowledge that might help him unify Japan.
After Ieyasu’s victory at Sekigahara and the completion of national unification, Joosten came to be valued and employed more extensively — a development made possible precisely because Ieyasu had won that decisive battle.
In the early Edo period, Japan was largely unified, and many samurai were assigned residences in Edo. This system also functioned as a means of keeping warriors from across the country under surveillance.
Notably, Joosten himself was granted a residence in Edo — effectively placing him in a position comparable to that of a samurai.
The Dutch presence and the flow of knowledge
In 1609, a Dutch trading post was established in Hirado (in Kyushu, present-day Nagasaki Prefecture).
This trading post later moved to Nagasaki and, throughout the period of national seclusion, became Japan’s only official window to Europe.
Under Tokugawa rule, foreign trade was strictly limited, but commerce with the Dutch was permitted.
It is highly likely that Joosten’s presence and personal connections played a role in making this relationship possible.
Through the Dutch came medical knowledge, astronomy, geography, and technical expertise. These fields later developed into Rangaku (Dutch studies), which formed part of the intellectual foundation for Japan’s modernization.
Joosten settled permanently in Japan and worked mainly in Edo.
The details of his death are unclear. He is said to have died while traveling somewhere in Southeast Asia on a trading voyage. While the circumstances remain uncertain, a life ending at sea seems fitting for someone who lived between Japan and the wider world.
Tokyo Station and the name “Yaesu”
At this point, it is worth returning briefly to the present.
In Japanese history, Jan Joosten is far less widely known than William Adams, who is remembered as Miura Anjin. Adams, an English samurai whose life included participation in warfare, is remembered as a dramatic and compelling historical figure. He also tends to appear more frequently in English-language scholarship and popular histories.
By contrast, Joosten has remained a more enigmatic and quieter presence.
Even in Japan, many details of his activities remain unclear, and he appears to have been both a political intermediary and an ambitious merchant.
And yet, in Tokyo, he achieved something close to immortality.
Tokyo Station, through which countless people pass every day, has two major exits: Marunouchi and Yaesu.
“Yaesu” is also the name of a district in Chūō Ward — a place name familiar to anyone living in Tokyo.
However, few people are aware that the name “Yaesu” derives from Jan Joosten himself.
His Japanese name, Yayōsu, gradually transformed over time into Yaesu. Joosten’s residence is believed to have stood near the outer moat of Edo Castle, close to what is now Tokyo Station. The name of a single foreign resident quietly became the name of the land.
Jan Joosten in modern Tokyo
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| Jan Joosten probably never imagined this ending: smiling from a poster, inviting shoppers to a Christmas lottery. |
Today, a stone monument honoring Jan Joosten stands on the median strip of Yaesu-dōri Avenue.
Its inscription notes that the arrival of William Adams and Jan Joosten marked the
beginning of relations between Japan and the Netherlands, and it emphasizes the significant scholarly and cultural influence the Dutch later brought to Japan.
There is also a statue of Jan Joosten in the Yaesu Underground Mall.
This column is being written in December, and in the photographs, the statue is wearing a Santa Claus hat.
During local events, Joosten even appears as a pop-style character on posters and displays.
It is difficult to imagine that a Dutch sailor shipwrecked in 1600 could have foreseen that, four centuries later, he would be transformed into a manga-like figure beneath one of the busiest stations in the world.
Jan Joosten may never have been widely famous in the Netherlands.
But in Tokyo, his name has never disappeared — and most likely, it never will.
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