Review: Last Samurai

I've seen the trailers at http://lastsamurai.warnerbros.com/home.php and watched the movie.

Not a pretty thought to realize the roots of Pearl Harbor originated in Meiji Japan.

But if a Civil War veteran aided samurais from a certain coup over 100 years ago, then Japan would still be a Third World country and have been invaded by Europeans, a vassal state of say, Nazi Germany.

The Satsuma Rebellion was instigated by lesser daimyo who resented the high handedness of the Americans and their European buddies -- the barbarians at the gates were carousing, annoying the people, and preying on the citizens, enticing them into what the Japanese at the time considered immoral, especially mixed marriage, trying to get the same perks the Japanese get because they are Japanese etc. Hm... does this remind you of modern Tokyo when the tourists from Oz come and visit??

I myself believe that if my ancestors tried to retain feudal values rather than the distorted American ideals that haunt the Asians to this day in "traditional" - read old-fashioned Western values common in the mid-19th Century - the world would be a dystopia filled with dark visions of violence and bloodshed worse than the aftermath of 9/11.

So I am thankful for that Civil War vet being the adventurer he was for helping to train both sides of the conflict that almost made Japan another vassal state of America like the Philippines, which was conquered after the Spanish American War much to the disgust of Filipinos — after the rebellion in Japan failed.

Coincidence? No, rather it was destiny.

So cheer up and watch this movie if you are a Tom Cruise fan.

---

originally posted on 12/08/2003 at 11:48:00 PM
reposted on 1/6/2009 at 11:48 AM
edited and posted on 20130124.1239