Packing his trademark black Walther PPK 7.65 mm automatic, a small pistol with a mighty punch, agent 007 set foot on the island of Naoshima just one day after escaping the clutches of a powerful sociopath and his henchman.

The scene is from "The Man with the Red Tattoo," the 2002 novel by Raymond Benson who, from 1997-2003, carried the creative baton of the James Bond franchise that has been through various hands since the death of its originator, Ian Fleming, in 1964.

In homage to the British agent, my first stop after disembarking at the Seto Inland Sea port of Miyanoura was the tiny The Man with the Red Tattoo Museum, close to the dock.