Do you know C. W. Nicol?
Posted by HermaM_Abendroth2048@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 35 comments
[removed]
Posted by HermaM_Abendroth2048@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 35 comments
[removed]
redandbluebadness@reddit
I do not know him but I am intrigued by the referenced connection with Miyazaki (who is well known in the UK)
HermaM_Abendroth2048@reddit (OP)
Please refer to my post to this person.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/comments/1t0lfjk/comment/ojaqnuv/
As for why that connection developed, I think his style and activities fit very well with the late-1980s movement toward coexistence with nature.
apeliott@reddit
He was my mother's childhood friend.
She never mentioned him to me growing up.
One day, I was in Japan. I spoke to my mother on the phone and she said she had an old friend there. Said I should get in touch with him.
So I get in touch and he invites me and my wife to his house in the forest. We get on the bullet train to Nagano and he picks us up from the train station with his assistant driving a Mitsubishi Delica.
We stay in his house a few days. He cooks for us, he tells us stories of Yakuza poacher hunting in Ethiopia, we drink sake giften to him by the crown prince (now the emperor), and shows us around his forest and private dojo.
It wasn't until I got back to Tokyo that I Googled his name and read about him and all the things he had done. I even came across a TV commercial which he did for the Mitsubishi Delica.
HermaM_Abendroth2048@reddit (OP)
Thank you for the detailed story!
That was a valuable experience.
Yes, the forest in Nagano that you visited is still maintained by a foundation bearing his name.
In Japan, he was also liked for his image as a kind of outdoorsman or mountain man. Because of that, he seems to have appeared in commercials as well.
I just remembered that he was also very knowledgeable about karate.
So perhaps your friend in the UK had practiced karate, or had some connection with karate.
mailywhale@reddit
No I have never heard of him
HermaM_Abendroth2048@reddit (OP)
!answer
Winston_Carbuncle@reddit
Lol is the question only for that specific user?
mailywhale@reddit
No, I was just first
HermaM_Abendroth2048@reddit (OP)
Thank you very much for your further reply.
I am sorry to trouble you, but could I ask for your advice?
The person who replied to me, u/Winston_Carbuncle, seems to be saying one of the following:
A. My use of the “answer” function is against the rules.
B. My criteria for choosing an answer are foolish.
Which of these, A or B, do you think they meant?
HermaM_Abendroth2048@reddit (OP)
Sorry, did I use it incorrectly?
I received an email saying that I should thank people for their replies, add an exclamation mark to one clear answer, and close the thread, so I did that.
Could you tell me the correct way to use it?
DeifniteProfessional@reddit
I genuinely thought it was the actor who played Bobby in Supernatural for a sec
HermaM_Abendroth2048@reddit (OP)
Thank you.
AnonymousTimewaster@reddit
This is the first I've ever heard of him
yes_its_my_alt@reddit
No but I could certainly attach a Brillo Pad to Ricky Gervais' head?
TinhatToyboy@reddit
I have more than a superficial Miyazaki interest but I have never heard of C. W. Nicol. I also have an interest in Ethiopia and the last Emperor so I'll check his book out, thanks.
HermaM_Abendroth2048@reddit (OP)
Thank you.
I remember that his novels were published in English, but I am not sure whether the essays I liked and mentioned were ever published in English.
I will include a link to the list of his works in the Japanese Books Database, in case it is of any use.
https://ci.nii.ac.jp/author/DA01333767
The essay collection I have with me now is Bōkenka no Shokutaku (“The Adventurer’s Table”)
ISBN13:978-4042453017.
If that book has been translated into English, it should include the stories from his time in Ethiopia that I was referring to.
As for his conversation with Hayao Miyazaki, I remember that most of it may have been collected in a book called TREE
ISBN 10: 978-4195540510.
Many of the discussions in that book were about forests, and I believe it also included illustrations related to Nausicaä. However, that book may not have been translated into English.
At any rate, as an example, his conversation with Miyazaki was treated as one of the featured items in a magazine issue tied to a special feature on British animation.
Froston_kk@reddit
Temu Nick Frost
ukbot-nicolabot@reddit
OP marked this as the best answer, given by /u/mailywhale.
^(What is this?)
dospc@reddit
No, he is not known here.
Most Brits won't know Hayao Miyazaki or Ghibli either. Some will (especially the nerds that post on Reddit) but it's considered 'Japanese culture' as a special interest.
HermaM_Abendroth2048@reddit (OP)
Thank you for your reply!
Yes, since this is Reddit, I thought that mentioning Hayao Miyazaki might be easier for people to recognize or understand than Nicol’s work in Ethiopia or Canada.
Thank you for answering and letting me know that he is not well known there.
TYO_Lex@reddit
I interpreted for him in Japan back in 2011. He was fairly well-known in Japan and had a newspaper column about living in Nagano, whisky, outdoor life and meeting Prince Charles and so on. The strange thing was that despite all this time in Japan he couldn't really speak Japanese and needed an interpreter.
HermaM_Abendroth2048@reddit (OP)
Thank you for your reply.
Wow, so you once interpreted for him.
I cannot remember the exact details, but I think I once read an essay where he joked about not being able to speak Japanese himself.
Thank you for answering!
LaidBackLeopard@reddit
Great man, but still a Brit when it came to linguistics :-/
ThePeake@reddit
I only know who he is as he's been posted about on here before, and that's as a fan of Miyazaki.
HermaM_Abendroth2048@reddit (OP)
Thank you!
Sorry, I see that he had been discussed in this subreddit before. I had not been able to find it properly.
Thank you for your reply.
Tim-Sanchez@reddit
I have no idea who he is, and I have no idea who Hayao Miyazaki is. So I also didn't know that they were connected.
I would feel confident that few people would recognise his name or face in the UK.
HermaM_Abendroth2048@reddit (OP)
Thank you for your reply!
Hayao Miyazaki is a director at an animation studio called Studio Ghibli.
In some of his well-regarded animated works and manga, he created fantasy settings that were partly modeled on Wales. Those works received a certain amount of recognition.
I had seen Miyazaki mentioned here in this subreddit from time to time, so I added that point.
It seems that C. W. Nicol is not very well known.
Thank you for taking the time to answer!
VikingCarpets@reddit
He's in a program I watched on Japan quite a few years ago, possibly part of a series? The episode featured foreign eople living in Japan. It showed him with Japanese friends mushroom picking, and talking about his life and work. He seemed very happy, spoke good Japanese. I liked him, for sure.
HermaM_Abendroth2048@reddit (OP)
Thank you.
Yes, I also like the books he wrote, especially the ones about his time with the Canadian Fisheries Department and his work as a game warden during the Haile Selassie era.
It seems that he is not very well known in the UK.
Thank you for taking the time to answer!
Gone_For_Lunch@reddit
You’re telling me that’s not John Goodman?
HermaM_Abendroth2048@reddit (OP)
Thank you for your reply.
Sorry, but I’m not quite sure I understood what you meant.
Do you mean that the photo I showed you looks like the American actor John Goodman, and you were asking, “Isn’t this John Goodman?”
If so, then yes, it is not him.
Thank you.
PorkAmbassador@reddit
Never heard of him, and not sure why the average Joe (like me) would know of him.
HermaM_Abendroth2048@reddit (OP)
Thank you.
I found one of his books while cleaning, and it reminded me that he had also published several books in English.
HermaM_Abendroth2048@reddit (OP)
As an additional note, he was appointed MBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 2005 for his conservation work.
I apologize for adding this separately, but when I include this information in the main post, it seems to get removed by moderation.
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