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Shōgun - Official Trailer Hiroyuki Sanada, Cosmo Jarvis, Anna Sawai FX (Original Post) YoshidaYui Nov 2023 OP
Looks stunning - can't wait. Thanks. n/t CincyDem Nov 2023 #1
I Was Living in Kyoto Japan When Richard Chamberlain Was Filming the Original Shogun. panfluteman Nov 2023 #2
James Clavell's Asian Saga are among my favorite books JoseBalow Nov 2023 #3
I knew of Clavell because of "King Rat." Grins Nov 2023 #4
King Rat was an excellent book! JoseBalow Nov 2023 #5
Yes! Grins Nov 2023 #8
The order of publication JoseBalow Nov 2023 #9
Definitely going to be on my watchlist for the new year! n/t Backseat Driver Nov 2023 #6
I love Clavell. Shogun was the first one I read yellowdogintexas Nov 2023 #7

panfluteman

(2,165 posts)
2. I Was Living in Kyoto Japan When Richard Chamberlain Was Filming the Original Shogun.
Tue Nov 7, 2023, 12:55 PM
Nov 2023

I was teaching English and visiting Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines and playing Shakuhachi (Japanese Zen inspired vertically blown bamboo flute) in my spare time. And reading books on Zen, and books by Lafcadio Hearn (Koizumi Yakumo) and reading books about Japanese history and culture as well.

Joke: Did you hear? Hollywood finally put out a movie that was a cross between a Wild West epic and a swashbuckling Oriental saga.
- What was it called?
- Annie Get Shogun!

JoseBalow

(4,937 posts)
3. James Clavell's Asian Saga are among my favorite books
Tue Nov 7, 2023, 03:18 PM
Nov 2023

The first time I picked up Shōgun I couldn't put it down, and I immediately read the other books (published at that time, this was before Whirlwind and Gai-Jin) with equal gusto. I loved Tai-Pan , but Shōgun is my favorite in the series, and one of my all-time favorite books, period. Anjin San was such an interesting and well-developed character, as was Toranaga. It was the first time I ever read Clavell, and I was hooked.

I wasn't entirely thrilled with the Richard Chamberlain film, but I will definitely watch this with great interest; FX has produced some great quality stuff. The trailer looks great!

Grins

(7,866 posts)
4. I knew of Clavell because of "King Rat."
Tue Nov 7, 2023, 11:26 PM
Nov 2023

First the movie then the book.

I watched Shogun on tv when it first came out.
45-Minutes in - I shut it off!

My theory is “If it is this good, you damn well know the book is better!” A lot better!

The next day I bought the book and devoured it!
All of Clavell’s books are worth reading a 2nd and 3rd time.

JoseBalow

(4,937 posts)
5. King Rat was an excellent book!
Wed Nov 8, 2023, 12:14 AM
Nov 2023

The movie with George Segal did it better justice than the Shōgun miniseries. But then I'm biased towards George Segal, I love that guy!

I've read many books about prison camps (everything Solzhenitsyn ever wrote, among others) and watched many related movies too. I'd put King Rat up there with best, from both mediums, but I feel like they really softened the brutality and angst in the film compared to the book. Like Solzhenitsyn, You can feel that it was personal...

Shot in the face, [Clavell] was captured in Java in 1942 and sent to a Japanese prisoner of war camp on Java. Later he was transferred to Changi Prison in Singapore.

In 1981, Clavell recounted:

Changi became my university instead of my prison. Among the inmates there were experts in all walks of life—the high and the low roads. I studied and absorbed everything I could from physics to counterfeiting, but most of all I learned the art of surviving, the most important course of all.


Prisoners were fed a quarter of a pound of rice per day, one egg per week and occasional vegetables. Clavell believed that if atomic bombs had not been dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki he would not have survived the war.

Clavell did not talk about his wartime experiences with anyone, even his wife, for 15 years after the war. For a time he carried a can of sardines in his pocket at all times and fought an urge to forage for food in trash cans. He also experienced bad dreams and a nervous stomach kept him awake at night.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Clavell

But I'm definitely with you, everything Clavell has written is great, and the Asian Saga books are worth keeping in the rotation. They're all long reads, but worth every minute burning through them; I wish they were all twice as long!

Ordered by internal chronology:

Shōgun: set in feudal Japan, 1600. 1152 pages.
Tai-Pan: set in Hong Kong, 1841. 727 pages.
Gai-Jin: set in Japan, 1862. 1126 pages.
King Rat: set in a Japanese POW camp, Singapore, 1945. 400 pages.
Noble House: set in Hong Kong, 1963. 1171 pages.
Whirlwind: set in Iran, 1979. 1147 pages (Abridged with some rewritten parts as Escape, 598 pages)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Saga

* That's 5,723 total pages!

Grins

(7,866 posts)
8. Yes!
Thu Nov 9, 2023, 01:12 PM
Nov 2023

The freaky thing - I thought those books were written in that sequence. I saw Blackthorn’s descendants in Tai-Pan and Noble House!

Apparently that was just me. The books were not in that order.

Best book I have read on prison camps?
“Unbroken” by Laura Hillenbrand.
Again, Japanese prison camps.
Sections during which I had to pause reading and reflect on the horror I just read.

JoseBalow

(4,937 posts)
9. The order of publication
Thu Nov 9, 2023, 02:16 PM
Nov 2023

caused me to re-read all the previous books when Whirlwind came out, and again before I read Gai-Jin.

And I thought it was over after the hurricane... never say never!

I never read Unbroken, but I did see the movie produced by Angelina Jolie and written by the Coen brothers. That was an excellent film! There's a sequel to it also, but I haven't seen that yet. It's the true story of olympian Louis Zamperini, very horrifying and also very inspiring.

He went on to found a camp for troubled youth called Victory Boys Camp and forgave his Japanese tormenters. Some received Zamperini’s forgiveness in person in 1950, when he visited a Tokyo prison where they were serving war-crime sentences. In 1998, Zamperini returned to Japan once again to carry the torch at the Nagano Winter Games. He stated his intention to forgive the Bird, Mutsuhiro Watanabe, but Watanabe refused to meet with him.
https://www.biography.com/military-figures/louis-zamperini

I just added Hillenbrand's book to my library queue. I noticed that she also wrote a Young Adult version that is available. I guess that's because the details of his captivity are too gory and inappropriate for kids.
I like that she wrote a version to inspire the younger generation.

yellowdogintexas

(22,652 posts)
7. I love Clavell. Shogun was the first one I read
Wed Nov 8, 2023, 09:25 PM
Nov 2023

LOL I immediately mentally cast Richard Chamberlain as Anjin-San.

Anyway it is a powerhouse of a book, as are all of Clavell's novels.

I loved them all

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