Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe may be raking in big box-office bucks as The Last Samurai, but a rival claimant to the title has emerged in the unlikely form of a sword-wielding British TV producer.
Karl Beattie, 36, from Stockport in England, has sensationally laid claim to being the only living samurai outside of Japan, and says that he is one of only eight foreigners to have ever been awarded the title.
Beattie's story has provoked a flurry of coverage in the British media, but anger among martial arts enthusiasts, who are furious at what they say is a con trick that may undermine the credibility of their pursuit.