Susan Karen Burton is an oral historian with an interest in creative nonfiction. She was born in Scotland, raised in New Zealand and spent most of her working life in Japan. There, like many of the interviewees in this book, she began her career as a Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme assistant language teacher (ALT) in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka prefecture. She was later a Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) scholar at Tsuda Juku University in Tokyo.