Continuity mistake: Tom Cruise has a cushion on his seat when he is taken to meet the Japanese delegation in restaurant at the beginning, maybe to make up for his small stature. The first shot shows no extra cushion but on sitting there is one there. (00:06:20)
Factual error: In the scene before the Americans are to be introduced to the emperor, they are told that the "Meiji" emperor is reform minded. However, Meiji is a posthumous era name, in other words, given after the emperor's death, which occurred many years later, whereas he is still very young in the period depicted.
Continuity mistake: In the ninja attack scene, when Tom Cruise stabs a ninja in the chest, in one shot the sword is poking out his back, but in the very next shot, it isn't.
Factual error: At the start of the movie when Algren first lands in Japan there are power lines. The movie is set in 1876, 2 years before being introduced to Japan in 1878.
Suggested correction: They are using modern terms and words so that the film and characters are easier to understand.
Greg Dwyer
It doesn't change the fact that this is a factual error, no matter the reason behind it.
Epigenis
Yes it does. Almost nobody outside Japan would have known the name "Mutsuhito." Films often use modern terminology to make things easier for audiences to understand. Like saying "vegetarian" instead of the older term "Pythagorean."
LorgSkyegon