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crothe77's review
informative
5.0
I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
A Gentleman from Japan by Thomas Lockley is a creative nonfiction exploring a young Japanese man named Christopher (Japanese name unknown) and his journey to England. When Christopher is sold to a naval captain and discovered to understand Chinese writing, he begins a journey across the world.
I had never heard of Christopher before reading this though I have background knowledge in Japanese history. The era Christopher grew up in, the Sengoku or Warring States Period, was known for quite a bit of political turmoil and war as the rest of the world was facing from the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries. I was also unaware of Japanese people being sold into slavery outside of Japan. In many ways, this book shines a light on things that are not often discussed in conversations around the Sengoku period because the daimyou tend to be the stars.
What I think the book does really well is make strong connections between the various nations during Christopher’s journey. We get to see how Queen Elizabeth and Shakespeare had interest in the Far East, particularly China and Japan, and what the Portuguese and Spanish were doing around the Philippines and the Americas. There’s often a separation, a honing in, on a specific country or a specific continent in nonfiction because nonfiction does well when it’s specific. But the topic of Christopher’s life asea lets Thomas Lockley make those connections organically and thoughtfully. As some of the chapters are from Christopher’s POV, they are not entirely in-line with our morals today, but it never felt excessive.
I would recommend this to readers who are looking for a nonfiction about Japanese or world history, fans of the Sengoku period, and those who have a strong preference for nonfiction focusing on the sixteenth century.
srm's review
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
4.0
The story of Christopher, the first person from Japan to go to the Americas or England, is a fascinating and previously completely unknown corner of history for me. And as a reader of sea stories, this was definitely compelling and particularly brutal.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Medical content, and Colonisation
Moderate: Slavery and Violence
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