>>Aieeeee!! “Rising Sun” was more racially stereotyped than Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto combined! Their portrayal of an all-powerful, all-encompassing, inscrutable Japan, Inc. was a laugh-riot. Seriously, imported geisha girls in L.A.? puhleeze! And of course, all the characters could do chop-sockey.
Especially as it was by then 1993 and the “Lost Decade” was well underway. The Rising Sun was already in the dumpster.<<
It was indeed. Crighton didn’t want a black man in a key role because he felt the black racial focus would distract from his Japan bashing.
I could never figure where Crichton’s motivation came from. James Clavell’s “Shogun” and the concurrent mini-series portrayed the Japanese as bloodthirsty death-worshipping savages but at least Clavell had done time as a POW.
Who peed in Chrichton’s Wheaties?