(EDITOR’S NOTE: This first-person account of His Excellency Cedric A. Scott’s recent presentation of his credentials to the Emperor of Japan was written by his daughter Aly Morita. I decided to share it as a Guest Commentary with readers of my online publication BAHAMAS CHRONICLE, which has huge following among Bahamians in the diaspora across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom as well as in The Bahamas and the wider Caribbean.)
GUEST COMMENTARY: BY ALY MORITA
LOS ANGELES, California, October 16, 2023 — On September 20, 2023, my father, Cedric A. Scott, officially became The Bahamas’ Ambassador to Japan. Accompanied by Deputy Director General of Foreign Affairs, Keva Bain, my immediate family — my mother, Yuki; my sisters, LaGloria and Tia; my husband, Randy Pura; relatives and friends who came from near and far — joined us in celebrating the moment.
My cousin, Kevin Yamaguchi, and his wife Roblay flew in from California, my cousin, Reiko Karakawa took the bullet train from Hiroshima and our dear friends, Yoshiko and Kei Watanabe, Kathy and Mark Schirmer and cousins, Takeshi and Mariko Ikkanda, all from Tokyo… met us at the Imperial Hotel to bid him a proud farewell as he left, dressed in a tailed morning coat, for his meeting with Emperor Naruhito.
The Emperor of Japan! An audience with the Emperor of Japan is even more unlikely than a meeting with King Charles III. At best, a glimpse of the popular Emperor might be expected waving to a crowd of admirers or on television performing his duties, but it is rare for someone as exalted as he — -a direct descendent of the sun goddess, Amaterasu, who is considered the creator of Japan — to be found in close company to anyone other than his staff, family, or visiting dignitaries. Japan has the oldest living monarchy in the world.
After the PLP’s election victory on September 16, 2021, CeDad (as I call him) shared with his immediate family that he had been nominated as Ambassador to Japan by Prime Minister, Philip E. Davis, with the staunch support of Frederick Mitchell, Minister of Foreign Affairs.
CeDad and my mother were in The Bahamas and paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Davis when he received the news. True to his nature, my father did not want any fanfare or undue attention. For the last several years, he had served as Honorary Consul for The Bahamas to California, forging ties with international leaders, businesses and educators — contacts that would serve him well in the next role of a lifetime.
My parents are an extraordinary couple. He, born in Nassau, has lived a lifetime abroad: but his early education was well cemented in the British system of discipline and excellence; one of the first Black men to receive a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Georgia and a long career navigating the difficult world of the English Repertory Theatre system and later working in Hollywood with the late Sir Sidney Poitier.
He and my mother, Yuki, a Japanese-American born in Manzanar (one of ten WWII concentration camps enacted by the American government to incarcerate people of Japanese heritage) of a proud, scrutinizing family, met in the early 1990’s. They forged a blended family together and as the years passed their three daughters from former marriages became sisters. In turn, my mother’s family, both in California and Japan, and his Bahamian family became united by their uncommon pairing. Uncommon but uniquely compatible as they created their universe. Being appointed to the Ambassadorship to Japan was a natural segue it seems.
CeDad has always been politically minded- as he would say to us, “No one could be brought up by my grandmother and not be political”. The cable news was always on TV, newspapers were folded neatly every day as he finished reading each section and a conversation was readily on hand as he learned of the latest reports from the Bahamas of elections, deaths, or cultural affairs.
At random times, tales from his boyhood years in Nassau, his beloved grandmother, or Mama as he knew her, could be brought to life as he recounted fond memories. The integration of his experiences, his ties to the Bahamas -the family, his history, and his many friends and this esteemed appointment as Ambassador to Japan is testament to the multitude of experiences for which he is finally being recognized.
We gathered to bid him farewell in the lobby of the Imperial Hotel, a stone’s throw from the palace. We took photos in between the two flags – The bright azure blue and yellow of The Bahamas and the distinctive white and red circle of Japan. We tittered with happiness and expectation. We watched as he walked down a red carpet to an awaiting limousine festooned with the Bahamian flag. He beamed with the grin of a man finally meeting his destiny.
As the car door opened for him, I knew that he was replete with the knowledge and understanding of this moment – bridging the gaps of culture and experiences and bringing it all together. We watched with pride as he waved to us again, a smile of love and appreciation on his face, marveling at the moment. He slipped into the car- into his role, like a glove. Cedric A. Scott was born to perform this duty; finally and now even Emperor Naruhito would know how ready he is.
The vision of my parents to believe this role of a lifetime could be realized was only in their private universe. The hope of strengthening the ties of two distinct countries in this moment is no longer a dream, but a distinct possibility.
