Final Book Report....ever

Clavell, James. Shōgun. United States/United Kingdom. Delacorte Press (US) Hodder & Stoughton (UK): 1975.

I selected this Far East meets Western civilization tale for two reasons: 1) I've heard great reviews on how intense the book is, and how amazing the writing style is 2) It was the book that stood out most out of Ross Roemer's library, due to its ripped off covers. This novel, written in 1975, takes place in Japan, exclusively.

This book starts off with English-born Captain John Blackthorne getting shipwrecked onto the shores of a foreign island nation. Blackthorne is a smart individual, but holds a grudge and makes a rash decision in the beginning of the book to insult a Samurai. He is then separated from his Dutch crew, who he commanded because of the English-Dutch relationship, and is taken under the care of the Daimyo (a feudal lord) named Toranaga. Blackthorne is given the title Anjin, meaning "pilot," by the Japanese because they can't pronounce his name. When Blackthorne is interviewed by the Daimyo, he informs the Daimyo that there is a split in Christianity (between the Catholics and Protestants) and accidentally reveals that there is a weakness to the ruling nations that hold sovereign trading rights to Japan (Portugal and Spain).

Blackthorne is thrown in prison by Toranaga to prevent a rival Daimyo, Ishido, to attain the Anjin. Blackthorne, with his ability to learn languages (resulting in his knowledge of Latin, Dutch, English, Spanish and Portuguese), attains knowledge of some Japanese dialogue in order to be understood. The Japanese, in turn, are torn over Blackthorne's presence; He is a cultural outsider, a leader of a disgracefully filthy and uncouth group of rabble (his ship's crew), but he is also a formidable sailor, and navigator. Everything from there on out is Blackthorne attempting to gain Japanese respect.

John Blackthorne is a tall, built, Englishman with blue eyes and a set jaw. He is incredibly intelligent and his quick wits and deductive personality allows him to live throughout the book. He is constantly persecuted by the Portuguese and the Spanish because they own Japan, and is increasingly like throughout the novel by the Japanese because of his willingness to adapt to the foreign culture. Blackthorne, like most Englishmen, commands a ship better than any other of the pilots in Japan and his talents and abilities are deemed valuable. Constantly he faces dilemmas on how to approach cultural correctness; he falls in love with the wife of a Samurai, tries to create a trade route for the English and surpass the racial and political hate that is held between all who are from different nations.

This book was beyond incredible. It was a masterpiece. Clavell created a world of individual characters with background information on each motive. Every character has a soliloquy that explains their actions and their motivations. Clavell is well knowledgeable in the disputes between the Portuguese, Spanish, English, and Dutch and is able to exhibit it. The book is filled with funny moments of cultural differences as well as serious essential questions. A main issue that Clavell constantly questions is racial tolerance; constantly he shows the friendship between a Portuguese pilot, Rodriguez, and Blackthorne and tries to break down the barriers of racism. He questions why people of nations at war are required to hate each-other; aren't they just wars between two people who have a lot of power?

James Clavell also wrote a whole series of "Asian" books. The next book in this series is called Tai-Pan which is a novel written about European and American traders who move into Hong Kong in 1841 following the end of the first Opium War. He also wrote other books about Iran, Japanese POW camps in Singapore and Japan in the twentieth century. I plan to read more of these books because of the quality writing style in this text.

The Dekkers Music

The origins of Reggae music are in the Caribbean. In the 1950’s, the youth of Jamaica started to turn away from the radio that they were able to listen to, and started listening to the music from New Orleans. They could pick it up on good weather days, and could sometimes here the powerful Miami radio station WINZ. They were playing records by Amos Milburn and Rosco Gordon, and they could sometimes here some of the famous New Orleans artists like Fats Domino and Champion Jack Dupree. It is said that since these radio stations were so far away, the music was slowed down, playing an important role in reggae music. There are many myths as to the word reggae, some say it was from the 1968 Pyramid single by Toots and the Maytals called “Do the Reggay”. Other myths are it came from the word “streggae”, Kingstone Street slang for prostitute, Bob Marley said it was the Spanish word for “the king music”, and others say it represents the beat of the music. By the 70’s, reaggae was starting to pick up in the US, with songs like “Israelites” by Desmond Dekker and the Aces, “Wonderful World, Beautiful People” by Jimmy Cliff, and “Mother and Children Reunion” by Paul Simon.

For our cover song, we chose "Driven to Tears" written by Sting of the Police. This song reflects the use of political standpoint in Reggae music, as well as the Police's reggae influences. The song has uptempo reggae beats mixed with all of the Police's influences, paired with lyrics doubting the world's attitude towards the third world.

Our original song is called "Good Morning" written by Ethan Stern/Alex Arvidson/Michael Arenson.