I guess I need to repeat myself on several threads, but even the Chinese actresses that played geishas are bigger sellers in Japan than Japanese actresses. This is the reality. So you American and European purists need to understand the marketing of international films over Western and Eastern markets.

Welcome to Modern International Film-making 101: 2009.

The main character being white is not an insult. The character is supposed to be a American who failed in the Army and went to Japan as a mercenary.

But having him even vaguely referred or even compared favorably to as a samurai seemed demeaning to samurai legacy. Yes, the samurai were mercenaries of a sort, but they were also their own subculture and not mere opportunists.

A lot of people have commented on this... but does it really matter? I think it's shocking that people don't realise that they're implying that an actor/actress should only play roles where the character is from their country! If that's not what you guys are implying, then you obviously have double standards because I'm sure you don't complain when an American plays and Englishman, or a Canadian plays a Frenchman and so on and so forth!

See, this confuses me a little as I always thought the title "The Last Samurai" was in reference to Ken Watanabe's character, Katsumoto, not Nathen Algren and more besides, I never thought of the word 'Samurai' in the title as being singular.

Maybe that's just me...

Whereas I always regarded it as referring to both of characters - Cruise and Watanabe. Otherwise there would have been more film footage without Cruise.

When you consider what an epic failure Japanese make to imitate Western culture and proprieties, it becomes more understandable.

It's as subtle as telling the difference between an American Golden Retiever and a European one. Or the difference between a Scott and a German, or such.

You have to look closely for a long time, but then you'll only see it if you were smart to begin with.

If they take it as an insult, it's up to them.

Actually, a lot of Japanese traditions today live on (especially in martial arts) through foreigners more so than the Japanese.

I thought it was a bad idea, too, before I saw the movie. After watching it, I thought it was a fair story.

Is it important?

Really?

I don't think any eyebrows were raised when an Anglo-Saxon American man got to play the role of a Greek Champion, Archilies, in the movie, Troy.

Thus, why should we complain about this? She was a SE Asian. Only freaks can tell the difference.

I took it as though it was talking about Algren simply because at the end, when he speaks to the emporer, he said he would gladly end his life if the emporer thought of him as the enemy. This is obviously a reference to Katsumoto saying it previously to highlight that the samurai were there to serve the emperor!