There was a short article in the Wilson Quarterly regarding a list compiled by Japan's NTV from surveys of its viewers of the "100 Most Influential People In History". Some of the results made me fall over laughing. On the list, for example, some historical heavyweights like Adolph Hitler, Josef Stalin, or Mao Tse-Tung were nowhere to be found, but people like Freddie Mercury (lead singer of 'Queen') and the glamorous actress Audrey Hepburn were to be found (plus Walt Disney, of course). And while Jesus Christ is more popular than Confucius, John Lennon is more popular than either. I had to chase down this list....
On the Japan Probe web site, they feature three lists, actually, reflecting different surveys, at different times: "Historical Heroes" (presumably the 100 most influential people in all of history), plus the "100 Favorite People In History", and the "100 Favorite Women In History". I've compiled the three lists below....
The lists are an amazing mish-mash: A well-educated, well-grounded understanding of history on the part of the viewers (indicating a sound education), but with numerous, fantastical elements that reflect, in part, recollections of recent historical mini-series featured on Japanese television, plus numerous specialty interests (Jean Henri Casimir Fabre, the founder of modern Entomology, the study of insects, places 88th on the Favorites list), plus numerous singers, actresses, and even athletes.
I remember taking a course in college on Japanese history, and at the time, the person who caught my imagination as the single most important person in the entire sweep of all of Japanese history was Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate. If anyone had a claim to Number One, El Supremo, Numero Uno, it was him.
Nevertheless, Japanese television viewers do not agree. They place Tokugawa Ieyasu twelvth. Instead, they place Sakamoto Ryoma, the nemesis of the Tokugawa Shogunate, as the single most important person, not just in Japanese history, but in ALL of human history.
Ryōma is often regarded as the ‘father of the Imperial Japanese Navy, as he worked towards creating a modern naval force (with the aid of western powers) to enable Satsuma and Chōshū to hold their own against the naval forces of the Tokugawa bakufu.Interesting!
Chōshū’s subsequent victory over the Tokugawa army in 1866 and the impending collapse of the Tokugawa bakufu made Sakamoto a valuable commodity to his former masters in Tosa. Ryōma was recalled to Kochi with honours. Tosa domain was anxious to obtain a negotiated settlement between the Shogun and the Emperor, which would prevent the powerful Satcho Alliance from overthrowing the Tokugawa by force and thus emerging as a new dominant force in ruling Japan.Ryōma played a crucial role in the subsequent negotiations which led to the voluntary resignation of Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu in 1867, thus bringing about the Meiji Restoration.
Nevertheless I'm still looking to find a place for poor, friendless Adolph.......
Historical Heroes_______Historical Favorites_____Historical Favorite Women
Sakamoto Ryoma_____________01 Oda Nobunaga_______________1. Natsume Masako
Napoleon I_________________02 Sakamoto Ryoma______________2. Audrey Hepburn
Oda Nobunaga________________03 Thomas Edison_______________3. Princess Diana
Saigo Takamori______________04 Hideyoshi Toyotomi__________4. Cleopatra
Miyamoto no Yoshitsune______05 Matsushita Konosuke ________5. Mother Teresa
Joan of Arc _______________06 Tokugawa Ieyasu_____________6. Florence Nightingale
Hideyoshi Toyotomi__________07 Noguchi Hideyo______________7. Grace Kelly
Albert Einstein_____________08 Mother Teresa ______________8. Marilyn Monroe
Yutaka Ozaki________________09 Helen Keller________________9. Joan of Arc
Akechi Mitsuhide____________10 Hijikata Toshizo____________10. Marie Antoinette
Genghis Khan_______________11 Saigo Takamori__________11. Honda Minako (singer)
Tokugawa Ieyasu_____________12 Princess Diana _____________12. Yang Guifei
Thomas Edison_______________13 Albert Einstein_____________13. Helen Keller
Florence Nightingale _______14 Misora Hibari_______________14. Vivien Leigh
Chiune Sugihara_____________15 Fukuzawa Yukichi____________15. Ingrid Bergman
Kyu Sakamoto_______________16 Anne Frank _____________16. Teresa Teng (Singer)
Hijikata Toshizo____________17 Florence Nightingale _______17. Okada Yukiko (Singer)
Rikidozan_________________18 Yoshida Shigeru_____________18. Katharine Hepburn
Yoshida Shoin_______________19 Walt Disney_________________19. Marie Curie
Mahatma Gandhi____________20 Ludwig Van Beethoven________20. Eri Chiemi (Singer)
Prince Shotoku_____________21 Minamoto Yoshitsune_________21. Jang Geum (Doctor)
George Washington_________22 Ayrton Senna (Auto Racer)___22. Anne Sullivan(teacher)
Sanada Yukimura_____________23 Da Vinci____________________23. Natalie Wood
Mother Teresa ___________24 Tezuka Osamu_____________24. Yosano Akiko (Author)
Yujiro Ishihara___________25 Napoleon Bonaparte__________25. Ono no Komachi (Poet)
Kakuei Tanaka_______________26 Prince Shotoku______________26. Anne Frank
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart_____27 John Lennon_________________27. Hojo Masako
Abraham Lincoln_____________28 Zhuge Liang_________________28. Mukoda Kuniko
Oishi Yoshio________________29 Miyamoto Musashi____________29. Marlene Dietrich
Okita Soji__________________30 Ozaki Yutaka____________30. Emon Yuko (Essayist)
Christopher Columbus________31 Audrey Hepburn _____________31. Empress Himiko
Admiral Togo Heihachiro_____32 Mahatma Ghandi___________32. Tomoegozen (Warrior)
Martin Luther King Jr.______33 Soseki Natsume______________33. Nene (Famous Nun)
Andy Hug______________34 Takasugi Shinsaku___________34. Maria Theresa (Queen)
Amakusa Shiro_______________35 Murasaki Shikibu____________35. Kasuganotsubone
Hideyo Noguchi______________36 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart_____36. Elizabeth I
Bruce Lee______________37 Yamamoto Isoroku____________37. Kaneko Misuzu (Poet)
Leonardo da Vinci___________38 Miyazawa Kenji______________38. Maeda Matsu
Abe no Seimei_______________39 John F. Kennedy_____________39. Chiyo
Walt Disney_________________40 Ninomiya Sontoku________40. Kaai Kazumi (Singer)
Kondo Isami_________________41 Kondo Isami_________________41. Shizuka Gozen
Date Masamune_______________42 Okubo Toshimichi____________42. Princess Noh
Akira Kurosawa______________43 Takeda Shingen______________43. Suzuki Sonoko
Julius Caesar_______________44 Himiko______________________44. Maria Callas
Chosuke Ikariya_____________45 Ino Tadataka______________45. Sei Shonagon (Poet)
Audrey Hepburn _____________46 Ishihara Yujiro_____________46. Ichikawa Fusae
Liu Bei_________________47 Sen no Rikyu______________47. Aoe Mina (Enka Singer)
Ryunosuke Akutagawa_________48 Charlie Chaplin__________48. Higuchi Ichiyo(Writer)
John Lennon________________49 Sugihara Chiune_____________49. Hosokawa Gracia
Takasugi Shinsaku__________50 Date Masamune____________50. Taichi Kiwak(Actress)
Naomi Uemura________________51 Tanaka Giichi______________51. The Virgin Mary
Freddy Mercury______________52 Bruce Lee___________________52. Okada Yoshiko
Isoroku Yamamoto____________53 Okita Souji_____________53. Hitomi Kinue (Athlete)
Osamu Tezuka________________54 Matsuda Yusaku______________54. Oichi no Kata
Ninomiya Sontoku____________55 Marie Antoinette________55. Miyako Chocho(Actress)
Charlie Chaplin_____________56 Oishi Kuranosuke________56. Tsuda Umeko (Educator)
Princess Diana _____________57 Ikariya Chosuke___________57. Empress Dowager Cixi
Ludwig van Beethoven________58 Wright Brothers_____________58. Princess Sen
Ryotaro Shiba______________59 Katsu Kaishu____________59. Horie Shinobu(Actress)
Pablo Picasso_______________60 Martin Luther King Jr.______60. Shirashu Masako
John F Kennedy______________61 Yoshida Shoin_______________61. Sakamoto Oryo
Yuri Gagarin________________62 Jesus Christ________________62. Ariyoshi Sawako
Shohei "Giant" Baba_______63 Kurosawa Akira_____________63. Jackie Kennedy
Kong Ming_________________64 Uesugi Kenshin__________64. Kazu-no-Miya Chikako
Anne Frank _________________65 Marie Curie________________65. Okamoto Kanoko
Daijiro Kato________________66 Sato Eisaku_________________66. Yamaoka Hisano
Cao Cao_____________________67 Sanada Yukimura_____________67. Koshiji Fubuki
Tokugawa Yoshimune__________68 Cao Cao__________________68. Kobayashi Chitose
Arthur Conan Doyle__________69 Kato Daijiro________________69. Izumo no Okuni
Elvis Presley_______________70 Cleopatra (Egyptian Queen)__70. Aratama Michiyo
Galileo Galilei_____________71 Tokugawa Mitsukuni__________71. Takamine Mieko
Empress Himiko ___________72 Elvis Presley_______________72. Izumi Shikibu (Poet)
Yusaku Matsuda______________73 Ogi Akira (Baseball Player)_73. Catherine I
Pierre and Marie Curie______74 Togo Heihachiro_____________74. Oya Masako
Ferdinand Magellan__________75 Christopher Columbus________75. Noguchi Shika
James Dean__________________76 Ito Hirobumi________________76. Empress Jito
Yukio Mishima_______________77 Pablo Picasso_______________77. Komori Kazuko
Taira no Masakado___________78 Marco Polo______________78. Awaya Noriko (Singer)
Hokusai____________________79 Albert Schweizer____________79. Chusonji Yutsuko
Sen no Rikyu____________80 Yosano Akiko (Author)_______80. Matsui Sumako(Actress)
Kiyoshi Atsumi______________81 Andy Hug (Star of K-1)______81. Hasegawa Machiko
Federic Chopin______________82 Tsuburaya Eiji______________82. Tanaka Kinuyo
Babe Ruth_______________83 Joan of Arc _______________83. Yododono (Concubine)
Sun Yat-sen______________84 Honda Minako (singer)_______84. Ginsan/Kinsan (Twins)
Ayrton Senna________________85 Uemura Naomi________________85. Gubijin
Takanohana Koji_____________86 Sugita Genpaku_____________86. Matsuo Kazuko
William Shakespeare_________87 Confucius________________87. Jackie Sato (Wrestler)
Shirasu Jiro________________88 Jean Henri Casimir Fabre ___88. Sakamoto Otome
Taira no Kiyomori___________89. Natsume Masako (Actress)___89. Maehata Hideko
Eisaku Sato_________________90 Ferdinand Magellan__________90. Eva Peron
The Wright Brothers_________91 Honda Soichiro______________91. Murasaki Shikibu
Stanely Kubrick_____________92 Anne Sullivan_______________92. Sugimura Haruko
Theodore Roosevelt__________93 Shohei "Giant" Baba_________93. Iwasaki Chihiro
Hiraga Gennai_______________94 Abraham Lincoln_____________94. Mata Hari
Miyamoto Musashi____________95 Dazai Osamu________________95. Agatha Christie
Eiji Tsuburaya______________96 Chopin___________________96. Florence G. Joiner
Abebe Bikila________________97 Ikkyu_______________________97. Tojin Okichi
Eiji Sawamura____________98 Akechi Mistuhide____________98. Kawakami Sadayakko
Isaac Newton________________99 Isaac Newton________________99. Yamano Aiko
Matthew Galbraith Perry_____100 Matsuo Basho_______________100. Mary Carpenter
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