The "way of tea" had become an essential part of the samurai-influenced code of upper Japanese behavior.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | The Subtle Magic of Koetsu

The Japanese believed in the unwritten Samurai code of conduct, known as Bushido, which held that the true warrior was willing to die for the Emperor and would never surrender.

CNN: 'Dying was easy: It's the living that's hard'

The businessmen of The Bad Sleep Well (1960) are samurai in business suits, gangsters in skyscrapers, with a code of honor no less remorseless.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia

Like Kitano's other heroes, he follows the Samurai code -- that a man should choose the correct time and method of his death.

CNN: OT ONLY DID HONG