Do you reinterpret Usagi Yojimbo somewhat for American audiences?
(The Comics Journal #192 Interview, December 1996) I think I reinterpret it for American audiences. For one thing, I’m third generation Japanese-American. I’m not close enough to the source to portray it as accurately as someone else who is first generation; because of that most of my research is through books and films, and I reinterpret it. Also, there are a few things that I may allude to that I really don’t go into much detail, such as the eta, which, at that time, was kind of comparable to the untouchables of India, the very lowest class of the social order, and they dealt with things having to do with death, I may make a commentary every once in a while, like the eta was, as a class, disbanded in the 19th century but they basically changed the name from eta to burakunin but basically it’s the same social class. They deal with death and a lot of them have shoe stores because shoes are made out of leather.
