I write about the Samurai Revolution at the Dawn of Modern Japan – i.e., the Bakumatsu and Meiji Restoration. I’ve been at it for about thirty years. I think it’s the most important and interesting era of Japanese history. There are some great, and many good, writers of this history, all of whom are Japanese. Of course they write in the Japanese language. To the best of my knowledge, I am the only non-Japanese writer who focuses on this history. I wonder why!