On a backstreet in the Nihonbashi district of Tokyo, between a seafood wholesaler and a jewellery shop, stands a simple monument. It marks the former site, the inscription reads, of the home of William Adams, the first English person to reach Japan, and the inspiration for one of the standout TV series of this year.
Though it says Adams rendered “valuable services in foreign affairs”, the memorial is a strangely inconspicuous tribute to a man who, more than 400 years after his death, remains an unbreakable thread running through Anglo-Japanese relations, and whose on-screen portrayal continues to trigger debate.
