Since Shakespeare got through the notoriously long wait for foreigners at Japanese immigration and started to settle down and assimilate the local culture, what sort of changes have been wrought on him by his extended sojourn on these shores?
Well, this month, at two venues around the top of the Yamanote Line loop, there's a chance to encounter Shakespeare in two rather different Japanese guises.
Nowadays, the name "Romeo" likely calls to mind for many people the name of pretty-boy soccer star David Beckham's youngest son. But before that, it only ever meant the handsome young Montague heir of Shakespeare's tragedy, who was involved in a pure but doomed love affair with Juliet, daughter of the rival Capulets.