Bond Is Commissioned to Assassinate Dr. Shatterhand

Bond Is Commissioned to Assassinate Dr. Shatterhand is the turning point at which James Bond’s promise to Tiger Tanaka becomes a covert killing mission. What begins as a private appeal for advice is transformed into a state-authorized test: Bond must enter the Castle of Death and kill the figure Tiger calls the Dragon, or Japan will refuse to entrust Britain with MAGIC 44 intelligence.

From Tiger’s Account to a State Secret

Tiger’s request follows a story about a burned man who babbled a haiku until his death. Bond, drowsy in the small room and impatient for the evening to end, asks what Tiger did next. Tiger replies that he did nothing beyond apologizing to his superiors and waiting for an honourable solution. He had waited for Bond. His answer gives the mission a personal beginning, but not a private scope: Tiger says he has already taken the matter to the Prime Minister.

The authority for the operation rests on Bond’s earlier offer to provide personal services in exchange for MAGIC 44. Bond corrects Tiger’s recollection, distinguishing a personal undertaking from formal empowerment. Tiger considers the distinction immaterial: he accepted Bond’s word, sought an audience with the Prime Minister, and received permission to proceed. The matter, Tiger explains, is a state secret known only to the Prime Minister, himself, and Bond. The commission therefore binds Bond through both friendship and a deliberately restricted chain of political knowledge.

A Test of British Standing

Before disclosing the task, Tiger challenges Bond with a harsh account of Britain’s postwar decline. He points to the loss of its empire, the failed attempt to reverse that decline at Suez, and governments he considers incapable of ruling effectively. In Tiger’s assessment, Britain has become so weakened that supplying it with important intelligence might serve neither country. His criticism makes the request for MAGIC 44 more than an exchange of information: it raises the question of whether Britain remains capable of using such material.

Bond answers angrily. He accepts that Britain has been depleted by two world wars, that its welfare politics may have encouraged excessive expectations, and that its colonies were liberated too quickly. But he rejects Tiger’s judgment of the British people, citing their achievements in mountaineering, sport, and Nobel Prizes, while conceding that politicians in both countries can be unimpressive. The argument briefly seems to be a genuine rupture between friends. Tiger then reveals that the attack was intentional: he wanted to see whether Bond’s English composure would break under pressure.

Tiger’s provocation has a political purpose as well. He says that he had made a similar case to the Prime Minister, who set a condition: if Bond succeeded, the Prime Minister would accept that Britain still possessed an elite worthy of trust and that the intelligence would be safe in its hands. If Bond failed, Japan would politely refuse the request. The mission thus makes Bond’s individual performance stand in for a judgment about Britain’s remaining competence.

The Commission

Only after Bond demands to know what the test entails does Tiger name it. Bond is to enter the Castle of Death and slay the Dragon within. Bond treats the assignment as an absurd samurai ordeal; Tiger agrees that it is more or less such a test, but the language of legend conceals a practical assassination order. The target is Dr. Shatterhand, a Swiss botanist whom Tiger identifies as a purveyor of death.

The decision to use Bond is driven by the political risks of the operation. Japan has officially agreed to the assassination, but a Japanese agent cannot carry it out for reasons of policy. Bond’s foreign identity makes him useful: should Japanese police arrest him, the authorities can construct a cover story involving foreign intelligence services, try and sentence him, and then quietly smuggle him out of the country. Tiger presents capture as manageable and failure as potentially fatal; if Bond fails, Shatterhand or his guards will presumably kill him. The plan offers no assurance of safety, only a way to keep official Japanese involvement concealed.

Obligation, Reluctance, and Preparation

Bond objects that he has nothing personally against the Swiss botanist and questions the possibility of operating as a foreigner in Japan, since, as he argues, a foreigner would be conspicuous. Tiger answers that Shatterhand has already killed five hundred people, making him an enemy any good man should oppose. He also reminds Bond that the assassination is the service being exchanged for MAGIC 44. Bond reluctantly accepts that this consideration quiets his conscience, though his assent does not erase his earlier resistance.

The practical preparations begin immediately. Tiger orders Bond to leave the following day on the twelve-twenty train from Tokyo main station, bound ultimately for Fukuoka on Kyushu. Bond is forbidden to return to his hotel or see Dikko; from then on he is under Tiger’s personal orders. The first step is a discreet bathhouse visit intended to alter Bond’s appearance so that he more closely resembles a Japanese man. Tiger plans to accompany him on the train after Bond has received the initial treatment and rested. The sudden change in appearance, route, and supervision marks the passage from conversation into clandestine action.

The commission leaves Bond caught between several obligations: the word he gave Tiger, the intelligence sought for Britain, and the lethal assignment that Japan cannot openly perform itself. Its test is deliberately double. Bond must confront the danger at the Castle of Death, while his success or failure will determine whether the Prime Minister regards Britain as a trustworthy recipient of MAGIC 44. The mission begins, then, not simply as an attempt to kill Dr. Shatterhand, but as a wager on Bond as Britain’s representative.