You damn kids these days — do you realize that when I was your age, only about five people know what anime was, outside of Voltron, Star Blazers and Robotech?

You have your Adults Swims and DVDs. All the animation you could ever watch. Hell, you can even buy anime soundtracks on Amazon! I even hear that Samuel L. Jackson’s voicing an anime series — Afro Samurai — on G4. I’m sure it’s also the series that says Bad Motherfucker on it.

It turns out, however, that gaijin samurai are not strictly in the fictional realm of animated drawings. Peter Payne, owner of J-List.com, finds two examples of foreigners who joined the country’s warrior class.

Payne tells the story of the real Afro Samurai, Yasuke, a Jesuit priest’s slave that Nobunaga Oda took an interest in. As a retainer in his household, he served Oda and his son faithfully, but was later captured and turned over to the Jesuits.

There’s also William Adams, a caucasian, who was ultimately made a lord (or daimyo) by Ieyasu Tokugawa with a fief, title and retainers in what’s now Yokohama. Kind of like The Last Samurai, only William Adams was probably taller than Tom Cruise. No word if Adams worshipped Xenu or if Iceman would be his wingman anytime.