In the late sixties
saw a downturn in British manufacture, especially in the north of England, where heavy industry was hit hardest. Being a fool to ourselves, we often gave away the secrets of our trades, to overseas visitors, who studied our ways and then took it back to their own countries and made similar things better and cheaper.

This happened in Newcastle, where it was evident that the ship yards were in heavy decline. But before the tricks were lost, artisans from across the globe descended on Tyneside to glean has much knowledge as they could.

In around 1968, a young ship designer, Hirota Kuntino, who had emigrated from Japan to America at the end of the war, and studied at Princeton, was despatched to Tyneside by his American employers. Although clearly Japanese, he was essentially indoctrinated American and Hirota was often seen in the ship yards, making notes and wearing his trademark peaked baseball cap and baseball sneakers. He was hated by most of the other guys in the shipyard... because it was so soon after the end of the war and racial tolerance was not big in the yards, and also because he was about to steal the men's jobs.

Because he was often causing unrest, the management thought it better for him to work with the design of the lower echelon of the ship where he specialised in keel design. This so that there was less risk of him having an *accident* from a great height. Even when he was relegated to the lower parts, the men often refused to speak to Hirota for months on end.

Nobody ever spoke to the Conversed Asian Keeler....
( Piper Alpha is being a grumpy northerm bastard on:, Sat 14 May 2011, 13:43, Reply)