Japan was opened up by American gunboats in 1853 at which point Japanese-American trade was present. That puts Nintendo in reach of American sailors. Levi’s was founded in the west coast port city of San Francisco as workwear. This makes it plausible for a laborer to wear them while working as a deckhand or other skilled labor job where they may pick up a taste for Japanese card games while gambling in Japan. If they find themselves on the Atlantic route any time in the southeast and they’re likely to run into coca cola which was a refreshing and energizing beverage owing to the sugar, caffeine, and cocaine. If they keep some bottles on board for a special occasion they may very well have some left by the time they arrive in England where Brahm Stoker is writing Dracula.
Now, why is a Gothic writer gambling in a Japanese game with an American sailor and noticing his curious pant choice? I couldn’t tell you enough about Stoker to say if that’s normal, but add some emotional abuse and a bisexual baccanal and it sounds exactly like some Lord Byron bullshit and Percy Shelley may join in.
Samurai, gunslingers, and pirates are even more reasonable. There was an age of piracy located in the Caribbean and gulf of Mexico a few decades before the wild west. They’re unlikely to be fighting at the time, but as New Orleans settles down it’s plausible that a pirate may want to open a saloon or brothel outside the reach of the government and polite society. During the wild west the Japanese government underwent the Meiji Restoration which ended the feudal system and put a lot of samurai out of work (they had a rebellion about it). A samurai deciding to hop a ship to America to seek ronin work is something I feel like i would’ve heard if it had happened, but it is within the realm of “yeah I wouldn’t question if a mostly reputable source said it happened”. And well I suppose one or two western style gunslingers may have been in the West at the time.
He’s not a samurai (and in fact is probably one of the few members of the cast who is not arguably some flavor of samurai) but this is basically Lee’s ending in Last Blade 2:
Colonization made strange things happen. Once, for example, Spain recruited indigenous warriors from Tlaxcala (Central Mexico, allies of theirs since their battles against the Mexicas/“Aztecs”) and went to the Philippines, and there they fought Japanese pirates and samurais, basically.
They might’ve all existed, but did they all exist in the same place at once?
Japan was opened up by American gunboats in 1853 at which point Japanese-American trade was present. That puts Nintendo in reach of American sailors. Levi’s was founded in the west coast port city of San Francisco as workwear. This makes it plausible for a laborer to wear them while working as a deckhand or other skilled labor job where they may pick up a taste for Japanese card games while gambling in Japan. If they find themselves on the Atlantic route any time in the southeast and they’re likely to run into coca cola which was a refreshing and energizing beverage owing to the sugar, caffeine, and cocaine. If they keep some bottles on board for a special occasion they may very well have some left by the time they arrive in England where Brahm Stoker is writing Dracula.
Now, why is a Gothic writer gambling in a Japanese game with an American sailor and noticing his curious pant choice? I couldn’t tell you enough about Stoker to say if that’s normal, but add some emotional abuse and a bisexual baccanal and it sounds exactly like some Lord Byron bullshit and Percy Shelley may join in.
Samurai, gunslingers, and pirates are even more reasonable. There was an age of piracy located in the Caribbean and gulf of Mexico a few decades before the wild west. They’re unlikely to be fighting at the time, but as New Orleans settles down it’s plausible that a pirate may want to open a saloon or brothel outside the reach of the government and polite society. During the wild west the Japanese government underwent the Meiji Restoration which ended the feudal system and put a lot of samurai out of work (they had a rebellion about it). A samurai deciding to hop a ship to America to seek ronin work is something I feel like i would’ve heard if it had happened, but it is within the realm of “yeah I wouldn’t question if a mostly reputable source said it happened”. And well I suppose one or two western style gunslingers may have been in the West at the time.
He’s not a samurai (and in fact is probably one of the few members of the cast who is not arguably some flavor of samurai) but this is basically Lee’s ending in Last Blade 2:
https://www.vgmuseum.com/end/neogeo/a/lasb2lee_2.htm
I’m here for the Lord Byron bullshit.
Colonization made strange things happen. Once, for example, Spain recruited indigenous warriors from Tlaxcala (Central Mexico, allies of theirs since their battles against the Mexicas/“Aztecs”) and went to the Philippines, and there they fought Japanese pirates and samurais, basically.
Accurate info here.
On earth? Yes. Within traveling distance by sail? Also yes.