I’m not sure if Ryoma has JFK-esque qualities or if it’s the other way around, but I’ve discovered some uncanny similarities between the two great men, most significantly, I think, in the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 and the “Great Plan at Sea” (船中八策) of nearly a century earlier. I’ll talk about this and more at the “28th Annual Gathering of Ryoma Fans” (第28回全国龍馬ファンの集い in 九州), to be held in Fukuoka October 8 & 9.
John F. Kennedy has been the subject of major Hollywood films including “PT 109” (1963), starring Cliff Robertson. It’s high time we have a major international film about Sakamoto Ryoma, whose life and legacy are no less cinematic than those of the 35th president of the United States: Sakamoto Ryoma Film Project.
For now, read about Ryoma’s life and legacy in, “Ryoma: Life of a Renaissance Samurai,” the only biographical novel about him in English.
