As the geat-nephew and trustee of PercivalLowell's Estate,it gives me much pleasure to endorse the foundation pf the Lowell Society of Japan.While to most Americans and much planct Mars-and for the discovery of the planet Pluto, we are very much aware of the beloved place he hods in the "discovery"of ancient and modern Japan.
His visit to Anamizu-which I had the great pleasure of replicating with my alpinist friend,Sadao Tambe,more than one hundred years later-was a landmark of exploration for a Westerner in the Land of the Rising Sun. Lowell's subsequent writings about Japan showed his deep love for the people he met and his respect for the culture he was privileged to study.
The warm relations that have continued. over the many years since Lowell left Japan for the last time in 1893,have been a source of great pride to his heirs here on Mars Hill in Arizona. These friendly relations have been punctuated by visits back and forth across the expanse of the Pacific Ocean and the plaques marking his vist to the Noto Peninsula are replicated at his Observatory and seen annually by thousands of visitors from around the world.
Formyself,personally,it is a great pleasure to see that the Japanese Alpine Association is represented in the founding of the Lowell Society. I have been deeply involved in all aspects of mountains and mountaineering from earliest childhood. But, it was not until I reached the age of almost thirty years that I leamed my great-uncle had died while serving as president of the Appalachian Mountain Club, the oldest mountaineering organization in the Americas.
Since I have been the Trustee of Percival Lowell's Estate, and in keeping with the traditions of his legacy, I have been privileged to organize executive meetings of the World Climbing Organization(UIAA)and the American Alpine Club at Lowell Observatory.
It is only fitting that the man who first noted the presence of mountains on planet Mars,should - even though deceased for more than two generations - be the host for gatherings of distinguished mountain climbers on planet Earth.
But,to most of the world, Percival Lowell's legacy is the possibility that planet Earth is not alone in the Universe as the abobe of life - a life thet we flatter ourselves by calling "intelligent." My greatest responsibility is to that wider legacy, and I hope that the Lowell Society of Japan will include that possibility in its mission. Great-uncle Percival was man of enormous ability and varied intersts. Please be sure to include them all in what you do in his name.
Now that I, too, am an old man, I have the duties of a grandfather to bring the beauty and enjoyment of mountain climbing to my grand children and I will be doing so in Canada at the time when you are organizing the Lowell Society in Japan. Please do so with good cheer and pleasant thoughts. I also would like to take this means to send my fondest greetings to the baker of those delicious "PERCIVAL Lowell" cakes in Anamizu; to the town's former treasurer, Mr. Sakashita+; to the gentlemanly Professors Miyazaki and Ohnishi as well as to the eminent Professor Strauss; and, of course, to my old friends in mountaineering, My. Tambe and the Alpine Society.
