17th-century 17th-century-japan 1950s action action-packed adaptation adrenaline adrenaline-fueled adrenaline-rush adventure aerial-combat aerial-maneuvers aerial-warfare air-combat air-force aircraft airplanes ambiguity ambition american-literature apostasy atmospheric aviation aviators belief betrayal bravery brotherhood camaraderie catholicism character-driven character-study christian-fiction christian-missionaries christian-persecution christianity christianity-in-japan colonialism combat coming-of-age competition comradeship conflict conversion courage cross-cultural cultural-assimilation cultural-clash cultural-conflict cultural-identity cultural-imperialism culture-clash danger dangerous-missions death destiny determination doubt drama duty east-meets-west eastern-philosophy emotional endurance excitement exhilarating exhilaration existential existentialism exploration faith faith-crisis fate fear fiction fighter-jets fighter-pilots flying foreigner forgiveness friendship grief gripping guilt heroism hidden-christians historical historical-fiction honor human-nature hunters identity identity-crisis inner-conflict inner-struggle intense intensity introspection introspective isolation james james-salter japan japanese-culture japanese-literature japans-hidden-christians jesuit jesuit-missionaries jesuit-priest jesuit-priests jesuits journey korean-war literary literary-fiction literature loss love love-affairs love-triangle loyalty martyrdom masculinity military military-fiction mission missionaries missionary missionary-work moral-dilemma moral-dilemmas morality mortality nagasaki novel obsession oppression passion persecution perseverance pilot pilots poetic portuguese-missionaries post-war power-dynamics psychological psychological-exploration pursuit redemption relationships religion religious-conflict religious-conversion religious-exploration religious-faith religious-identity religious-intolerance religious-oppression religious-persecution resilience risk risk-taking rivalries rivalry romance sacrifice salter samurai self-discovery shusaku-endo silence silence-of-god sin spiritual-crisis spiritual-journey spiritual-struggle spirituality strategy struggle suffering survival suspense suspenseful teamwork tension the-hunters thrill thriller thrilling tragedy trauma triumph victory vietnam vietnam-war vivid-imagery war world-war-ii