There's several interesting stories like Adam's. In the early 1600s a number of Dutchmen ended up in Joseon Dynasty Korea, which was still recovering from a se

There's several interesting stories like Adam's. In the early 1600s a number of Dutchmen ended up in Joseon Dynasty Korea, which was still recovering from a series of devastating invasions from Japan which ended in 1598 (which are also talked about in the show Shogun). Desperate for military advancement, these foreigners, while entering an officially closed kingdom, where integrated into society as military advisors. The geopolitical realities that are in the show very much affected the region, and the introduction of Christianity, first by the Catholics, and then by other denominations has had profound impacts in East Asia through today. - in 1627 the Dutchman Jan Jansz Weltevree and some of this crewmates ended up marooned in Korea where they were asked to produce artillery for the Joseon dynasty. Weltevree took a Korean name, got married, has some children and even passed the Korean civil service exam becoming a proper Korean official. [1] - in 1653 his countryman Hendrik Hamel shipwrecked in Korea with almost 40 other crewmates and eventually met Weltevree who helped translate for them. Like his compatriots, they were tasked with being military advisors. Hamel eventually escaped Korea and made it back to Amsterdam by way of Nagasaki in 1668 where he published his journals, marking the first Western contact with Korea that was reported back to Europe. [2][3] - Predating Adams by just a few years, in 1579, an African arrived in Japan with a Jesuit mission. He became a retainer to Oda Nabunaga, one of the three unifiers of Japan. He had a brief but interesting career as a Samurai and was given the name Yasuke, then when Nabunaga fell went back to the Jesuits. - The Catholic missionary work in Korea started by the Jesuits in 1593, and like Japan became a powerful political and economic force. The Joseon dynasty had enough of it after a while and attempted a series of major purges, killing thousands of converted Catholics until the 19th century. The Church has continued to be a source of revolutionary support in South Korea up until the modern 21st century. But most Korean Christians are not-Catholic today as later missionary groups from other denominations were less politically threatening and seen as potential balances of power against the Catholic influence in Korean. Very notably, Pyongyang was the seat of Presbyterian Christianity before the civil war, and it's well understood that the founders of North Korea, the Kim family, were once a notable Presbyterian family with a few ministers in the line. 1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Jansz_Weltevree https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Jansz_Weltevree 2 - https://archive.org/details/journaelvandeongeluckigevoyagievan https://archive.org/details/journaelvandeongeluckigevoyagiev... 3 - https://archive.org/details/coreawithoutwith00grif https://archive.org/details/coreawithoutwith00grif