Saipan - Appearances in Literature and Media

Appearances in Literature and Media

Saipan was a major part of the plot in the Tom Clancy novel Debt of Honor. The island is invaded by Japan, as part of a systematic attack on the United States.

The 1960 movie From Hell To Eternity shows the true-life story of chicano American GI Guy Gabaldon's role in convincing 800 Japanese soldiers to surrender during the WW 2 Battle of Saipan. A key to Gabaldon's success was his ability to speak Japanese fluently due to being raised in the 1930s by a Japanese-American foster family.

Much of the action in 2002 film Windtalkers takes place during the invasion of Saipan during World War II.

A significant part of the novel Amrita by Japanese author Banana Yoshimoto takes place in Saipan with regular references to the landscape and spirituality of the island.

It also appears in Kyō Kara Ore Wa!! manga as a place that Mitsuhashi visits after winning a lotto.

Saipan is the setting for the P.F. Kluge novel "The Master Blaster". This novel is structured as first person narratives of 5 characters, 4 of whom arrive on the same flight, and the unfolding of their experiences on the island. The book weaves together a mysterious tale of historical fiction with reference to Saipan's multi-ethnic past, from Japanese colonization to American WWII victory and post cold war evolution of the island. The Master Blaster is the home-grown anonymous critic who blogs about the corruption and exploitation by developers, politicians, and government officials.

A new book (2012), by longtime Amelia Earhart researcher and writer Mike Campbell, "AMELIA EARHART: THE TRUTH AT LAST" (Sunbury Press, Camp Hill, Penn.), claims the famous female pilot and her navigator Fred Noonan, who had crash-landed at Mili Atoll, were picked up by a Japanese fishing boat and taken to Kwajalein, and later to Saipan and died on Saipan in Japanese captivity.