Edward Seidensticker (1921-2007) was a distinguished translator and scholar who was responsible for introducing the works of a number of important modern Japanese novelists to the English-speaking world. At the time of the writing of this book, he was spending half of the year in New York where he was Professor of Japanese at Columbia University and half of the year in Tokyo. He is widely known for his translation of The Tale of Genji, which he described as "a labor of love"--it took almost 10 years to complete. He also wrote several nonfiction books about Japan and was awarded a National Book Award for his translation of The Sound of the Mountain in 1971.

Donald Richie (1924-2013) spent nearly sixty years witnessing and reporting on the transformation of Japan from its postwar devastation to a twenty-first century economic and cultural powerhouse.

Paul Waley is a geographer at the University of Leeds. He has written several books on Tokyo's history, social development, and its changing dynamics in contemporary Japan.