John Saris disliked Adams's commitment to Japanese customs and regarded him as excessively assimilated. Richard Cocks valued the same familiarity with Japanese manners because it helped him work with local people. Their disagreement shows how a commercial intermediary's strengths could also attract criticism from his compatriots. Adams had practical complaints of his own. He said that the English paid less for his assistance than the Dutch had paid for work with their trading post.
Notable Point · 1:31:17-1:32:17
Saris and Cocks disagree about Adams's Japanese customs
Two English merchants judged Adams's adaptation differently, exposing a tension between cultural familiarity and expectations of an English intermediary.