[/floatl]Author Stephen Hunter is well known for his series of thrillers featuring sniper Bob Lee Swagger. His best-selling book "Point of Impact
" was recently made into a film version under the name "Shooter". It seems the next part of the series is set in Japan and the Japan Times carries an interview with Hunter where he talks about the book:In the book, you have a Japanese kendo instructor tell your American protagonist that he "hated 'The Last Samurai.' " How did you feel about that film?
I hated it as well, because it put the little white guy at the center of a Japanese story, and he proved to be smarter, faster and tougher than anyone. In one sense, "The 47th Samurai" is a rebuke to that movie and to the "White Samurai" genre, where that generally happens as well; I made certain that my hero didn't become a better swordfighter than the Japanese, but only a passing adequate one, with definite limits on his skills. His only chance lay in figuring out ways to cheat rather than any innate superiority and he knew that he was doomed against a first-class swordsman.
What were some of the more challenging aspects of setting a work in Japan?
Not to trivialize it, not to fall into the cliche of American-in-Japan-finds-the-little-yellow-folks-funny. I tried to imagine a Japanese mind-set and base the motives of the Japanese characters on cultural concepts that have meaning in Japan more powerfully than in America. My worst trouble, however, was with the thing called "Japlish," or the imperfect English spoken in the tourist trade by many Japanese, often to comic effect. Usually I represent Japanese English speakers as fluent and eloquent; on a few occasions I did try and reduce the vocabulary and some of the connective words, because such forms of communication do exist and are a common experience for Americans visiting Japan. I hope my ear for it was good enough so that when Japanese read it, they aren't insulted...more...
