Enter the dragon: When science catches up with folklore
ANDREW BENFIELD
"Here be dragons" was a poetic turn of phrase used by cartographers in the past to indicate terra incognita. But it was unwittingly accurate on one 16th-century map of what is now Indonesia. Though the area in question was unexplored by Europeans at the time, it was already well traveled by local people, who had long known it as Nusa Nipa, or Dragon Island.
When Europeans arrived at the island's coastal villages to trade, they heard tales of fearsome beasts lurking inland, but dismissed them as fairy tales and folklore. It was only centuries later, when a curious Dutch colonial officer traveled to the interior and returned carrying the dead body of a Komodo dragon, that outsiders realized the locals had been telling the truth all along.
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Metropolis Japan
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The Mainichi
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Edging Toward Japan: Expressing Solidarity with the 'Expo Lady'
It was in the news recently that that a woman, Tomiyo Yamada, 76, colloquially known as the "Expo Lady" ("Banpaku Obaasan") had managed not only to attend the Osaka Expo every day since it opened in April, but also to gain admittance to every single one of the 188 pavilions. The last one to succumb was the Netherlands Pavilion, which commemorated her arrival with a special welcome from the Dutch Consul General and the presentation of a "Miffy" soft toy. She intends to keep visiting every day until the final day of the Expo in October. News reports noted that that this was the latest in a series of Expo conquests by the indomitable lady, who had also attended every day of Expo 2005 in her native prefecture of Aichi, as well as the opening days of the expos in Shanghai and Yeosu, South Korea, and even moved, together with her husband and son, to a flat close to the Expo site in December last year. 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One minute you are in Uzbekistan, the next minute in Belize, and then you are in a display of a country you never even knew existed (apologies, Palau). You discover that Hungary and Japan are connected in ways you never expected. In this alternate universe, the real size of different countries and their populations is often disproportionate to the size, magnificence and inventiveness of their pavilions, and their contents often disconnected to anything you would expect. Spain, that hot dry country, has a display entirely devoted to oceanic ecosystems; Australia has weirdly gesticulating dancers on skateboards. So fantastical and fascinating was everything I saw over the course of two days that I never wanted to leave. I felt exactly the same about the last Osaka Expo way back in 1990, which continues to reign in my memory as a dreamscape of magical gardens and lush pavilions. It's been worth the wait for the Expo to come home to Osaka once more. But setting aside just for a moment my own enthusiasm for expos, I also have a sneaking regard for the Expo Lady in a different way as a next-level obsessive. The obsessives of this world often instinctively grasp that imbuing significance and attachment to something seemingly trivial can invest their own lives with purpose and meaning and sometimes yield the most spectacular results. I am reminded of the film "The Lost King", in which a middle-aged lady at a loose end after losing her job randomly conceives an interest in the English Plantagenet King Richard III (r. 1483-85), whose final resting place after being killed in battle had been a centuries' long mystery. She decides to obsessively read every book she can about him and attend meetings of other enthusiasts, until finally her pursuit leads her to actually working out where his body is buried (under a car park). 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That would have been a truly suitable presentation to the amazing Expo Lady, that most superbly accomplished hunter of the White Whale. @DamianFlanagan (This is Part 66 of a series) In this column, Damian Flanagan, a researcher in Japanese literature, ponders about Japanese culture as he travels back and forth between Japan and Britain. Profile: Damian Flanagan is an author and critic born in Britain in 1969. He studied in Tokyo and Kyoto between 1989 and 1990 while a student at Cambridge University. He was engaged in research activities at Kobe University from 1993 through 1999. After taking the master's and doctoral courses in Japanese literature, he earned a Ph.D. in 2000. He is now based in both Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, and Manchester. He is the author of "Natsume Soseki: Superstar of World Literature" (Sekai Bungaku no superstar Natsume Soseki).
Nikkei Asia
03-07-2025
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Enter the dragon: When science catches up with folklore
One of the Komodo dragons encountered by the author on a recent trip to Indonesia's Komodo Island. (Photo by Andrew Benfield) ANDREW BENFIELD "Here be dragons" was a poetic turn of phrase used by cartographers in the past to indicate terra incognita. But it was unwittingly accurate on one 16th-century map of what is now Indonesia. Though the area in question was unexplored by Europeans at the time, it was already well traveled by local people, who had long known it as Nusa Nipa, or Dragon Island. When Europeans arrived at the island's coastal villages to trade, they heard tales of fearsome beasts lurking inland, but dismissed them as fairy tales and folklore. It was only centuries later, when a curious Dutch colonial officer traveled to the interior and returned carrying the dead body of a Komodo dragon, that outsiders realized the locals had been telling the truth all along.
