In a quiet Spanish river town about 650 locals carry a 400 year old secret in their surname. In AD 1613 samurai Hasekura Tsunenaga led the Keicho Embassy from Japan to Europe to meet King Philip III of Spain and Pope Paul V. In AD 1615 Hasekura was baptized in Madrid as Felipe Francisco Hasekura. When the Tokugawa Shogunate banned Christianity some delegates chose safety in Spain rather than risk persecution in Japan. They settled in Coria del Rio and their descendants still carry the surname Ja

Samurai were more than just warriors during Japan"s Edo period. They...