I work as a writer and university teacher, specialising in literature, travel and history. You can find more details under Profile.
The aim of this website is to give an idea of the kind of writing I do. Apart from editorial work and a number of articles, I’ve written eight books. There are links to short extracts from them on the Books page.
Over the past few years I've also worked with my wife Ayumi on an annually updated guide to some of the less frequented temples and gardens in Kyoto. This is available on Amazon and iBooks. For more details click Kyoto and go to the first post: KYOTO WITHOUT CROWDS.
Some time ago I reissued an earlier book about western images of Japan (The Idea of Japan, Secker & Warburg, 1996) as an ebook, and I'm hoping to do the same with some of my other books. Another project waiting in the wings is a short guide to Mantua. I'm not particularly interested in rehashing the factual details you can get from any smartphone. Most of them one forgets before the screen goes dark. What I'd like to provide is some sort of cultural context for the sights that make Mantua such an intriguing city - a sense of their historical background and the individual lives that lie behind them.