Bernard Jean Bettelheim

Bernard Jean Bettelheim (June 1811 – 9 February 1870) was a physician who served as the first Anglican missionary to Japan. Born to a Hungarian Jewish family in Pressburg (modern Bratislava), Bettelheim was educated at a yeshiva in Trebitsch before studying medicine at various universities. He graduated from the University of Padua in 1836 and began to travel across the Mediterranean practicing medicine. While serving as a surgeon to an Ottoman military regiment in Manisa in 1840, he met a group of British missionaries and converted to Anglican Christianity. He traveled to London later that year and attempted to enter the Church Mission Society and preach to Jewish communities in the Mediterranean. He was rejected due to his recent conversion. After several years practicing medicine in London, he met Herbert Clifford, who had long sought to organize a Christian mission to the Ryukyu Kingdom. Bettelheim agreed to join his Loochoo Naval Mission and left with his family from England in 1845.

After several months studying Chinese in Hong Kong, Bettelheim arrived in Okinawa in April 1846. He was initially denied permission to land, but sneaked his way on to the island and refused to leave. Ryukyuan authorities had him and his family stay at the Gokoku-ji in Naha, where he lived under constant watch and pressure to leave. He began practicing medicine and preaching on the island, despite orders not to, in the process introducing the smallpox vaccine to the island. A talented linguist, Bettelheim produced a reference grammar and dictionary for the Okinawan language, as well as translations of the Gospels. The Ryukyuan government began to steadily crack down on his attempts to proselytize, although they avoided the use of force in order to forestall a diplomatic incident. Okinawan citizens were ordered to ignore Bettelheim and shut their doors when he approached. In response, he began to break into houses to preach, resulting in him being assaulted in several instances. The Loochoo Naval Mission grew upset with Bettelheim due to his tactics and his frequent appeals to the British government for military assistance.

In 1853, American admiral Matthew C. Perry visited Okinawa, seeking to open it, and eventually Japan, to American trade. Bettelheim became enamored with Perry, comparing him to Jesus in his sermons, and served as his translator during treaty negotiations. Bettelheim decided to leave Okinawa in 1854, disillusioned with the prospects of prostelyzing. Afterwards, he settled in the United States, where he continued his translation work and medical practice. He served as a surgeon in the Union Army during the American Civil War, before settling in Illinois and eventually Missouri. He died of pneumonia in 1870.