[/floatl]Timesandstar: Maryport stars on Japan TVA JAPANESE film featuring Maryport is now complete and ready to be shown on television there. The film, a documentary by Masaru Shimoya, looks at the bond between the town and Nagasaki city provided by 19th century Maryport sons Robert and Wilson Walker. The men may have been almost forgotten in their own home town but in Japan they are credited with being largely responsible for its shipbuilding industry. The Walkers lived in Nagasaki when the rest of Japan was closed off to foreigners and taught the Japanese the art of building ships...more...
Lengthy account of the Walker brothers time in Nagasaki here. They were close associates of Thomas Glover and Wilson was involved with him in setting up Kirin Brewery. Robert Walker also entered the drinks business and introduced "Banzai Cider" which is still selling today. His son, Robert Jr., was one of the few to witness the Nagasaki atomic bomb explosion from the ground and remain unharmed.
