Fort Vancouver, the headquarters of the Hudson Bay Company in the disputed Oregon territory, was at one point highly cosmopolitan. Staffed by English, Scottish, Irish, and Hawaiian laborers, it was frequented by French-Canadian traders and visited by representatives from Indigenous tribes across the region. In 1834, it was even home to citizens of Japan, which, at the time, was one of the most isolated countries on Earth. On October 11, 1832, a ship named the Hojunmaru left port at Onoura (now in Mihama) on a trip to Edo (now Tokyo),…
