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Informasia #10, October 19, 2026Mike Galbraith
The Remarkable Life of the Meiji Maru: Japan’s Oldest Surviving Iron-made Ship
Vimeo video: posted October 20, 2026Audio: posted
October 20, 2026
Who
Mike Galbraith, Journalist, Kokusaika Training Consultant
Abstract
The Meiji Maru was especially built for the Japanese government in 1874 by the Robert Napier &Sons shipyard on the River Clyde near Glasgow in Scotland. It was designed as a steamship incorporating the latest engineering technology and, as with all early steamships, also had masts and sails in case the engines failed. In Meiji Maru’s case it was initially rigged as a two-masted topsail schooner. The ship was 225 feet long (68.6 m), 22.6 feet wide (6.9 m), weighed 1,027.57 tons, and could reach a speed of 11.5 knots.
Our Speaker
Mike Galbraith is a founding member of Informasia.
Publications
Text
E-mail
mike.galbraith@interworld.jp
Requested by Patricia Yarrow.
NEWS
The news is that I am focusing this summer 2026 on mastering this Informasia website.
Right now, I am combing through the current layout and updating it.
Once everything is order in a few days, I have arranged to contact the fine Support team at Strikingly, Informasia's web host.
We will discuss the correct template going forward. A reasonable fee is involved.
The current template is a long page with sections.
That must change to individual pages. No more endless scrolling!
Actually, I am excited to have reached this stage after four years.
Looks like Informasia has a community and continuity!
April 28, 2026 /Patricia Yarrow
ARTICLES
Sioris_The Creation, Martyrdom***.docx. April 2025
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V3RnIfUIPbXiQ44uCzeD1PLkbc0IyoT2/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=105775447281122203523&rtpof=true&sd=trueSioris_Golden Road.pdf. 1aug2025https://drive.google.com/file/d/1REX9efbFZwdp4VRNzirtGGgHJ6wnNCES/view?usp=sharing
Sioris_Anatomy of an Anatomy 2july2026.pdf. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-0dk4pVSdZdgj9fU-7oiDlp19keKuMY6/view?usp=sharing
Sioris_Anatomy Final 2.7.26.pdf.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IsfPQAsTZBb_hIRCEx22Lgqx17qwYmA0/view?usp=sharingContact Us
Would you like to join Informasia's e-mail list? It is easy and there are just a few notices.
Every month, there are three short Reminders of the approaching lecture of the month, and a longer follow-up Report shortly after the meeting.
Any comments and questions are most welcome. This website is very much in progress as of August 2025. /Patricia Yarrow
Support Informasia by inviting friends to join our Zoom meetings, always on the third Monday of every month.
Check us out on Facebook for announcements of the next meeting, as an "Event".
Informasia Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/307236340460985
Other Social Media (SMS) under developement. We do have a bluesky account, which is not active yet.
More thoughts on this soon.
Any suggestions, most welcome. Please send them to Patricia Yarrow at yarrowp@gmail.com
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ABOUT INFORMASIA
Informasia launch
May 2020
Chaos ruled and all compass points were lost in the onslaught of the newly arrived worldwide COVID pandemic. In April, as all university classes moved to Zoom, Patricia Yarrow was gazing blankly from her Ryogoku (Tokyo) veranda. Bereft of meeting companions, academically informative monthly lectures, and friendly discussions, inspiration struck on that spring day. “We could do this on Zoom!”
A flurry of messaging later, a core group of eight castaways met (safely on Zoom) on 25 May 2020 to toss ideas around. Alex Byrne dreamed up the name “Informasia”, and the vision began coming into focus. Our Informasia ship cast off with an stalwart crew for shores unknown. Since then, our mailing list has grown from 10 to nearly 400. Our Facebook page counts some 280 friends.
Informasia community
Thanks to all the friends and colleagues of Informasia in Japan, Asia, Singapore, Maylasia, Australia, New Zealand, throughout the UK and Europe, and the hardy east coast of the USA, our Zoom community, launched June 2020. It has grown steadily ever since. Presentations in 2022 ranged from deeply academic translations of Korea, Japan, China, to research in progress, alarming lockdowns in Shanghai, to tranquil musings on cherry blossoms and ethereal meditations on life between death, with a helping of the foreign politics between China and Japan. If lectures were flowers, our Informasia bouquet would create quite the splashy ikebana display.
The Informasia logo comes to us from designer Ritsuko Lynch, upon the recommendation of Alex Byrne. She is based in Santa Monica, California, and can be reached at: https://en.99designs.jp/profiles/2313262
Join Informasia's e-mail list
Every month's lecture includes three brief pre-meeting reminders.
New addition: The Vimeo link to the lecture presentation and discussion will be sent the day after the lecture.
A newsy follow-up Report completes the set a few days later.
2027 Informasia lectures-always the third Monday of the month
Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/6338045613
Informasia #1, January 18, 2027
Copyright © 2027
Stay tuned! I will update this page for 2027 soon. /PY July 22, 2026




