Japan And Avalon

Japanese expiation of dishonor by suicide resembles Ythrian deathpride. The fictional Head of the Japanese Secret Service, Tiger Tanaka, would have been a kami-kaze if World War II had lasted longer.

In conversation with James Bond, Tanaka lets off steam about the American occupation of his country and enforced consumerism. Thus we can imagine Ythrian colonials complaining about the incorporation of their planets into the Terran Empire and the consequent unrestricted immigration.

Rudyard Kipling shows us life, including covert Intelligence operations, in British India. Ian Fleming shows us life, including Intelligence activity, in exotic locations like Jamaica and Japan during the Cold War. Poul Anderson shows us life in the even more exotic location of the planet Avalon as his Terran characters discuss the difficulty of spying within an alien society. Their agents can penetrate the human population of Avalon but cannot learn anything that is not already public knowledge. Human Avalonians no longer think, talk or even walk like Imperials and imitating them is unfeasible. Back on Earth, James Bond must be disguised as a deaf and dumb Japanese miner.