In a weird way, William Adams has had a huge effect on most of the good things in my life. As liedra noted, he is the inspiration for the main character in Sho

In a weird way, William Adams has had a huge effect on most of the good things in my life. As liedra noted, he is the inspiration for the main character in Shogun. When I was about 9 years old, I first came across Shogun (the book) at my public library. It enchanted me and I've read it many times since then. It was my first experience with anything related to Japan and it completely fascinated me. I tried to learn Japanese on my own as a kid and finally learned it for real in college. Through my wife, kids and career, it's fair to say that almost half of my life has been a Japanese experience.