It was thirty years ago this month (or was it last month?) that I finished writing the draft manuscript of my first book, Ryoma: Life of a Renaissance Samurai, in my apartment on the Sumida River in Tokyo’s Asakusa district, just a few short blocks from where the statue of Katsu Kaishu stands today. At that time I was not even sure that the book would ever see the light of print (it would not be published for another 7 and a half years), much less be placed in the library at the Teradaya Inn in Fushimi, Kyoto.

[I took these photos at the Teradaya library in October 2016.]