I was born in England and grew up there and in the Netherlands. I later lived for a couple of years in Japan and travelled widely in Asia, but have spent most of my adult life in Australia, where I work as a historian and writer. Nowadays I divide my time between a small village on the south coast of New South Wales and Canberra, where I am Emeritus Professor of Japanese History at the Australian National University. Travelling in Northeast Asia - particularly Japan, Korea and Sakhalin - are among my passions, and I love writing and reading both academic history and historical novels, walking on the beach, kayaking and snorkelling. My most recent academic books are 'Japan's Living Politics' (Cambridge University Press, 2020) and 'One the Frontiers of History' (Australian National University Press, 2020), and I have published two historical crime novels – 'The Searcher' – set in 19th century London, and most recently 'The Lantern Boats', set in Japan during the postwar occupation (both published by Joffe Books). On this page you can find photos of White Lion Street, Norton Folgate (now called Folgate Street), where the courthouse at the centre of the ''The Searcher' once stood, and of the Iwasaki Mansion, where key events in 'The Lantern Boats' take place. If you have a chance, you can explore both places yourself. Dennis Severs' House in Folgate Street - https://www.dennissevershouse.co.uk/ - gives an amazing insight into the world of Ada Flint and her contemporaries, while the Iwasaki Mansion house and gardens near Tokyo's Ueno Park are also open to the public - https://ueno-bunka.jp/en/facilities/kyu-iwasaki-tei/ You can also find a video on the background to my earlier book 'To the Diamond Mountains: A Hundred Year Journey through China and Korea' (Rowman and Littlefield, 2010) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pymdjVMVjE.
