Gai-Jin (Japanese for "foreigner") is a 1993 novel by James Clavell, chronologically the third book in his Asian Saga, although it was the last to be published.

The story delves deeply into the political situation in Japan and the hostility Westerners faced there, and is loosely based on the Namamugi Incident and the subsequent Anglo-Satsuma War.

On September 14, 1862, Phillip Tyrer, John Canterbury, Angelique Richaud, and Malcolm Struan are riding on the Tōkaidō, when they are attacked by Shorin Anato and Ori Ryoma, both Satsuma samurai and rōnin shishi in the sonnō jōi movement, cells of revolutionary xenophobic idealists.

Canterbury is killed, Malcolm seriously wounded, and Tyrer receives a minor arm injury; only Angelique escapes back to Yokohama unharmed to get help.

Meanwhile, at a village inn in Hodogaya the daimyō Sanjiro of Satsuma, meets with Katsumata, one of his advisors, and receives Ori and Shorin, with whom he plots an overthrow of the current Shogunate.

The novel spins two story lines which intertwine with ever increasing complexity: one follows the "gaijin" (foreign) community in Yokohama, the other, the Japanese, both the government (Bakufu) run by a Council of Elders who advise the young Shōgun, and the anti-government, xenophobic, pro-Emperor forces, focusing on the "shishi".

While Malcolm slowly recovers from his wounds and falls in love with Angelique, she is raped by one of the Japanese samurai assassins, Ori Ryoma, as she lies sedated to treat her shock.

At the same time, she learns her father is a degenerate gambler in jail for debt, and her uncle loses her capital in a failed investment.

He hates the foreigners as passionately as the shishi do, but recognizes that their superior military technology makes sonnō jōi impossible for the present.

A meeting is arranged between the council and the representatives of the foreign community to deal with their demands for reparations and justice for the murderous attack, only one of several such incidents.

Meanwhile, his mother, Tess Struan, runs the business and urges him to return to Hong Kong and give up his infatuation with this unsuitable penniless French "gold-digger".

He gradually adopts the same position as Lord Yoshi, his implacable enemy: the only way to purge Japan of these revolting barbarians is to learn their military and technological secrets.

Tyrer discovers his "friend" is a dangerous assassin wanted by Lord Yoshi and must be handed over as part of a deal, but the shishi disappears.

As the government samurai close their net, the sensei decides on a suicide mission: to set fire to the Yokohama settlement and sink the largest foreign ship in the harbour.

James Clavell announced in 1981 he wanted to write a novel called Nippon which dealt with descendants of the characters from Shogun in the era of Perry.

The magic of storytelling is to want to make people listen breathlessly, if you're telling the story orally, or turn the page, if you're writing it.

Gai-jin is a very easy way of learning about Japanese characters, characteristics, attitudes toward sex, food and politics, which apply today...

[7] In 1993 NBC, who had huge success with a TV version of Shogun, announced they would broadcast an eight-hour mini series based on the book for the 1994–95 season.

"Gai-Jin will establish a landmark in international television co-productions and a new relation in the industry between the United States and Europe", said Paolo Gilsenti, managing director of RCS.

[9] Filming was to start February 25, 1995 outside Hiroshima, with a budget of $30 million and a cast including Edward Woodward, Diana Rigg, Ben Cross, Tim Curry and Roddy McDowall and Richard Chamberlain doing the narration.