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In 1841 a Japanese fishing vessel sinks. Its crew is forced to swim to a small, unknown island, where they are rescued by a passing American ship. Japan’s borders remain closed to all Western nations, so the crew sets off to America, learning English on the way.
Manjiro, a 14-year-old boy, is curious and eager to learn everything he can about this new culture. Eventually the captain adopts Manjiro and takes him to his home in New England. The boy lives there for some time and then heads to San Francisco to pan for gold. After many years, he makes it back to Japan, only to be imprisoned as an outsider. With his hard-won knowledge of the West, Manjiro is in a unique position to persuade the emperor to ease open the boundaries around Japan; he may even achieve his unlikely dream of becoming a samurai.

      「你的夢想和希望是什麼？」「你希望你的人生怎麼過？希望自己變成誰？」
　　這是一場海上冒險，也是一場人生冒險，只有勇敢打破成見，追逐夢想的人，才能看見世界，改變未來。
　　一八四一年，一位14歲的日本少年萬次郎跟著4位漁夫出海，遇到暴風雨，困在無人島。當時的日本人認為外面的世界，到處充滿妖魔鬼怪和野蠻人，不但禁止外國船隻停靠，連漂流在外的日本人也不能回國，違者一律處死！
　　有一天，一艘路過的美國捕鯨船救起萬次郎一行人。萬次郎的好奇心戰勝了對「野蠻人」的恐懼。他加入捕鯨的行列，用勇氣、智慧征服海中巨獸，贏得友誼和尊重。他努力充實自己，學習新文化、新知識。接下來十年間，他乘著捕鯨船，航行各大洋，造訪許多從未聽過的地方。
　　這是充滿文化衝擊、充滿新經驗、挑戰、冒險和尋找自我的旅程。雖然萬次郎明白漁夫永遠不可能成為武士，也明白回家只有死路一條，但是他依然堅持夢想，他要回到故鄉、回到日本，他要成為一名改變世界的武士……