Shōgun
I finished watching this 2024 series recently, having watched the original 1980 miniseries with Richard Chamberlain, and read the 1975 novel Shōgun by James Clavell. I read the book in my late teens after a school friend had first introduced me to his novel Noble House, set in Hong Kong.
Clavell was captured in the Second World War and was imprisoned in Java and later in Changi prison, Singapore.
Prisoners were fed a quarter of a pound (110 g) 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.
— https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Clavell#Imprisoned_in_Changi
Publicity material from the 1980 mini-series with Richard Chamberlain as Blackthorne and Yoko Shimada as Mariko.
My favourite actor in the show was the New Zealand born Anna Sawai who plays Lady Todo Mariko. It’s the second show I had seen her in, the other being the slightly less serious, but perfectly enjoyable Godzilla spinout, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.
She is followed to a close second place by Hiroyuki Sanada, who plays Lord Toranaga.
I found Cosmo Jarvis’ portrayal of Pilot John Blackthorne to be a little ‘mumbly’ and affected compared to the poise and sophisitication of the entire Japanese speaking cast.
I watched the show on Disney+.
The novel Shōgun - first edition cover.
I read all of Clavell’s Asian Saga books and enjoyed them all too…
King Rat (1962), set in a Japanese POW camp in Singapore in 1945.
Tai-Pan (1966), set in Hong Kong in 1841
Shōgun (1975), set in Japan from 1600 onwards
Noble House (1981), set in Hong Kong in 1963
Whirlwind (1986), set in Iran in 1979.
Gai-Jin (1993), set in Japan in 1862
— Wijipedia
Cover photo shows Anna Sawai as Lady Todo Mariko and is publicity material for the 2024 series.
