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"The Man From Japan"
A Synopsis from the Screenplay
By Richard S. Omura
(Based on the Novel by Clive James)
Akira Suzuki works in a Japanese bookstore in London while aspiring to a position in the Japanese consulate. His dillema is that his English pronounciation is hilariously incoherent.
Suzuki makes the acquaintance of Rochester, a gay man who teaches him English in exchange for learning Japanese. Rochester's sexual advances are refused in comical fashion but Suzuki maintains a friendly relationship with him and confides to him his dream of owning a stately mansion while being adored by two gorgeous Caucasian women.
Suzuki meets Jane Austen, a physically well-endowed punkish girl with spiked hair. Jane takes a liking to Suzuki, especially after seeing him dispose of a few thugs with the use of his highly trained skill in karate. Being so admired, he has an affair with her and discovers that her behavior is as wild as her speech and appearance. The affair is terminated after an incident in which her unthinking behavior makes him slap her.
In the gym that Suzuki uses to maintain his superb shape, he makes friends with Lionel who makes fun of his name, linking it to the motorcycle manufacturer. Suzuki takes it in stride. Another frequenter of the gym is Lillian Pflimmlin, a sleek, beautiful woman at whom he had been sneaking looks.
Lionel invites Suzuki to a party at his plush penthouse. Suzuki attends with Jane, with whom he had made up, but is separated from her and is introduced to Lillian and her rich, millionaire benefector, Papadakis. Once alone with Suzuki, Lillian gives him her phone number and asks him to call.
Meanwhile, Jane disappears. Suzuki goes searching for her and asks Lionel of her whereabouts. He mentions something about her wanting to commit suicide, despondent about Suzuki getting so much attention from other women. Suzuki finds her hanging from the latticework in the atrium in a failed suicide jump. He rescues her with his gymnastic abilities but their relationsip once again becomes strained.
Subsequently, Suzuki calls on Lillian and they end up in bed. At a club afterwards, Suzuki's martial art comes into play again as Jane is forcibly detained by the bouncers as she tries to enter. A scuffle ensues, resulting in three of the bouncers being badly hurt by his karate.
The following day, London's tabloids scream out JAP RAMBO GOES BANANAS! Suzuki is reprimanded at the Japanese consulate. They inform him that he is compromising his chances of receiving a position there.
However, after another incident in which his martial arts is displayed, the consulate requests his services as an interpreter and bodyguard. A Kabuki play is to be held in London and the leading actor has received death threats from a radical Japanese leftist group. Suzuki's martial arts skills had been duly noted and he is recruited in case of an assasination attempt.
All of his friends attend the play. During the performance, three radicals disguised as elderly men attack the actor with swords hidden in their canes. Assisted by Lionel and Papadakis, Suzuki grabs a ceremonial sword and battles the assasins. He skillfully dispatches two of them. The third attacker strikes at Papadakis but the sword stroke is taken by Suzuki, who is wounded. The swordsman moves to finish him off, but Jane throws a heavy video camera solidly in his face. The rest of the onlookers follow suit with their cameras and the assasin is knocked out.
Grateful for Suzuki saving his life, Papadakis presents him with a gift, a mansion in Malibu. A year later, a London tabloid has an article titled "Where are they now?" The photos show Suzuki lounging by a pool in Malibu with bikini-clad Jane and Lillian.
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