The Shishi — Dov Silverman

Mung and John Whittefield face the Golden Lizard leader of the tattooed men who are dedicated to ridding Japan of all foreigners.While attempting to introduce new methods of agriculture, education and trade into Japan, Mung fends off the Russian attempt to take over Japan's northernmost islands.His wife Saiyo dies in an earthquake.Her sister,nurses Mung to health and leadership of Japan.

The theme of the series (five books published in Great Britain, in German, Polish and Hebrew) is expressed by Rudyard Kipling:
” . . . . but there is neither east nor west, border, nor breed, nor birth,
When two strong men stand face to face,
Tho they come from the ends of the earth.”
John Mung, a Japanese fisher boy, is rescued and adopted by American ship Captain Whittefield. With a Harvard education, Mung returns to 19th century Japan and becomes the bridge for western knowledge into that isolated island kingdom. John Whittefield, Mung's adopted brother, becomes Commodore Perry's liaison between the Japanese Emperor and the United States State Dept. John later becomes Secretary of the Navy.