Like other countries, Japan has had exceptional women. Why not focus on them instead of geisha? Japan had Murasaki Shikibu, the writer of the world's first novel; Masako Hojo, the widow of Yoritomo Minamoto and a powerful political figure in her own right; Tomoe Gozen, a female warrior during the Genpei War, and during time of Queen Victoria's reign, Takeko Nakano, who fought during the Boshin War. Why aren't big budget American movies made about these women? And if they were, would an ethnic Asian be allowed to play the roles or would these roles be whitewashed like with "21" or "Ghost in the Shell"?

Roger learned about Japanese culture from Japanese movies, which can both instruct and mislead. Roger gave the 2003 Tom Cruise flick "The Last Samurai" three and a half stars. He wrote, "The battle scenes are stirring and elegantly mounted, but they are less about who wins than about what can be proven by dying. Beautifully designed, intelligently written, acted with conviction, it's an uncommonly thoughtful epic." The movie was well received in Japan, although the Mainichi Shimbun writer Tomomi Katsuta considered the portrayal of the noble samurai as a bit dated (the Oscar-nominated "The Twilight Samurai" came out in 2002). Katsuta told The New York Times, "Our image of samurai are that they were more corrupt." Another ethnocentric and less than authentic touch in "The Last Samurai," attributed all the contributions of other nations (such as France and Great Britain and Japan's long-time partner the Netherlands) to the United States.

"Memoirs of a Geisha" was made for $85 million and grossed $158 million internationally. It had the second highest per-theater-average in 2005. That flies in the face of current claims regarding the casting of Scarlett Johansson for "Ghost in the Shell" that there are no ethnic Asian women who could open a major movie. Johanssson is 31. Zhang Ziyi is 37. Does that six years really make a difference? Or have things really changed in Hollywood between when "Memoirs of a Geisha" was made and now? Or is the casting of Scarlett Johansson just another example of Asian heroes being #WhitewashedOUT as in "21" and "The Last Airbender"?