Roy James(1929-1982)
- Actor
He was born to a Volga Tatar family that took refuge in Japan. His
father Muhammad Safa was an imam (Muslim cleric) who fought on the side
of Whites during the Russian Civil War. His family attained Turkish
citizenship and he grew in the poor Tokyo district of Shitamachi. After
Turkey sided with Allies in February 1945, he was rounded up for hard
labor along with other enemy aliens. A popular media figure of the
1960s, he took Japanese citizenship only in 1971. He died of laryngeal
cancer and is interred at the Foreigners' Muslim Cemetery in Tokyo. His
father died two years later in 1984.
