From the British Library:
William Adams, 'the first Englishman in Japan', died on 16 May 1620 at Hirado. Events planned in Japan and the UK to mark the 400th anniversary of his death have unfortunately had to be postponed because of the pandemic. However the British Library has been able to contribute to the celebration of a remarkable life. Letters written by Adams during his years in Japan are preserved in the East India Company archive, and we are delighted to announce that digital copies of these are now available to access freely in our Digitised Manuscripts resource.