If you like Shōgun, read these other great historical novels by James Clavell
By Joel Wagler
Gai-Jin (1993), set in 1862, approximately 1,200 pages
Clavell returns to Japan for the third book in this loosely connected series. It takes place at a time where for the first time in two and a half centuries, Japan is allowing some European contact and trade. The outsiders, or gaijin, are restricted to a small colony without access to the interior of Japan.
Descendants of Tai-pan's Dirk Struan and his chief rival, the Brocks, continue their quest for trading supremacy in Asia. Japan is on the brink of modernization, but has yet to come to a decision about what will be best for the country.
Personal and political intrigue are again front and center in this book, bit it lacks a bit of the panache present in most of Clavell's other books. It isn't quite the page turner that Tai-Pan is.
Gai-jin hasn't ever been adapted to the screen, bit or small, but if Shōgun whets the appetites of audiences, there is always a chance.