17th-century 17th-century-japan 1950s action action-packed adaptation adrenaline adrenaline-rush adventure aerial-combat aerial-maneuvers aerial-warfare air-combat air-force aircraft ambiguity ambition american-literature apostasy army army-life atmospheric aviation aviators belief betrayal bravery brotherhood camaraderie catholicism character-driven character-study christian-fiction christian-missionaries christianity christianity-in-japan classic colonialism combat coming-of-age competition comradeship conflict conversion courage cultural-assimilation cultural-clash cultural-conflict cultural-identity cultural-imperialism culture-clash danger dangerous-missions death destiny determination doubt drama duty east-meets-west emotional endurance excitement exhilarating exhilaration existential existentialism exploration faith faith-crisis fate fear fiction fighter-jets fighter-pilots flying forbidden-love foreigner forgiveness friendship grief gripping guilt hawaii heroism hidden-christians historical historical-fiction honor human-nature hunters identity identity-crisis inner-conflict inner-struggle intense intensity introspection 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 military-life mission missionaries missionary missionary-work moral-dilemma moral-dilemmas morality mortality nagasaki novel obsession oppression passion pearl-harbor persecution perseverance pilot pilots poetic portuguese-missionaries post-war power-dynamics psychological 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 soldiers 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 war world-war-ii