Currently sitting in the Royal Dockyard Pembroke Dock is a Ginko tree which was planted at the request of Marshal Admiral Hehachiro Togo in 1877, as a gesture of appreciation for the kindnesses shown to him during his visits to Pembroke Dock in 1875-77.

During this period a ship, the Hiei was being built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in Jacobs Pill shipyard in Pembroke Dock.

She was one of three built as the first ships for the fledgling IJN, these were the Kongo and the Fuso built in other UK shipyards.

During the preparations for the erection of a Japanese war Memorial in Angle churchyard to remember ten Japanese sailors who died when their ship the Hiranomaru was torpedoed off the coast of Pembrokeshire in 1918, David James a native of Pembroke Dock who now lectures on Pembrokeshire’s maritime heritage across Wales in addition to representing The West Wales Maritime Heritage Society of which he is secretary, took several Japanese dignitaries to see the Ginko tree.

He was given an instruction, to please take cuttings from this tree and pot it on. When big enough it will be taken to Japan to be planted in a place of honour as Hehachiro Togo is a Japanese National Hero, called the Nelson of the East.

Horticulturalists from the National Botanic Gardens of Wales took numerous cuttings, potted them on and they are growing sturdily.

Earlier this month his Excellency Koji Tsuruoka Japan’s Ambassador to the UK together with a number of Japanese and British dignitaries including David James visited the National Botanic Gardens of Wales to open the refurbished Japanese garden. While there, they took the opportunity to see how the saplings were growing.

The situation now is that every town and city in Japan that Admiral Togo once lived in, worked in or even visited, wishes to have one of these special saplings. His place of birth is also high on the list.

So now the town of Pembroke Dock is known across Japan with a high degree of affection and appreciation for not only remembering their dead sailors but also caring for the Ginko tree.

Mr Shinbara, Mayor of Kure City (a naval base in the Prefecture of Hiroshima) in Japan has sent correspondence to Mr. James explaining that, as the Imperial Japanese Navy was born in Pembroke Dock, then his City, in a way, owes its existence to Pembroke Dock.