01 History of Tatars in Japan - Japonyada Turklerin Tarihi
Facing the western imperialist expansion, Japan had difficult times in the 19th century. The situation changed a lot thanks to the emperor Meiji who started his reign in 1868. The centralized government helped Japanese modernization and soon Japan started to look overseas, to understand well what was going on beyond her borders. During this time, in 1887, the first contact between Japanese and Turks took place, by the visit to Istanbul of Prince Komatsu, uncle of the emperor Meiji. As a respond to this visit and in hopes of having good relations with the new shining star of Asia, the sultan of Turkish empire Abdulhamid II, decided to send a battleship to Japan on July 14th 1889. Frigade Ertugrul was then sent to Japan with 609 crew on board. Ertugrul was an old ship and faced though time to reach Japan finally in June 1990. After completing her mission, (giving presents to the the emperor and meeting state officials), on the way back, Ertugrul sank off the coast of Kushimoto village in a severe typhoon. A monument is erected by the sea to commemorate the over 500 sailors who lost their lives in this tragic accident.
