八重洲
Yaesuやえす
looks like 'eightfold sandbar' — actually a Dutch sailor's name
- 八重yae — eightfold (phonetic decoration)
- 洲su — sandbar (phonetic decoration)
Tokyo Station's front yard is named after a shipwrecked Dutch sailor from 1600. The kanji spelling — 'eightfold sandbar' — is pure decoration, chosen later to look nice. Bonus: the name originally belonged to the other side of the station and migrated.
In 1600 the Dutch ship De Liefde washed ashore in Japan with 24 survivors — 110 had set out. One of them, navigator Jan Joosten, became an advisor to shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu and received a mansion by the castle moat. His Japanese name 'Yayōsu' attached itself to the riverbank, and mutated over centuries into 'Yaesu.' The kanji meaning 'eightfold sandbar'? Pure decoration, chosen to look Japanese. Tokyo Station's front door is named after a shipwrecked Dutchman.
Modern proof
A Jan Joosten monument (1989, for 380 years of Japan–Netherlands relations) stands on the Yaesu-dōri median, with a memorial statue in the underground mall.
sourceThe area is early-Edo reclaimed land of the former Hibiya inlet — the 'sandbar' kanji is decoration, but the water was real.
Sources
- ヤエチカ公式「ヤン・ヨーステンについて」[local_org]
- 中央区観光協会ブログ「ヤン・ヨーステン拝領地の八代洲と八重洲」[local_org]