Mr. Moto

Mr. Moto is a fictional Japanese secret agent created in a series of spy and adventure novels by the American author John P. Marquand. He appeared in six novels published between 1935 and 1957, which were set in 1930s China on the eve of the Second Sino-Japanese War. He became even more widely known from Hollywood films and a radio series. Marquand created the character for the Saturday Evening Post, which was seeking stories with an Asian hero after the death of Charlie Chan's creator Earl Derr Biggers.

Although Marquand presented Mr. Moto as a "good guy," later writers objected that he reinforced prevailing racial and ethnic stereotypes. Mr. Moto appeared in other media in ways that are quite different from the novel. Eight motion pictures starred Peter Lorre between 1937 and 1939, 23 radio shows starred James Monks broadcast in 1951, a 1965 film starred Henry Silva, and a 2003 comic book produced by Moonstone Books, later reprinted as Welcome Back, Mr. Moto.