Note on Transliteration, Naming Convention, and English Translations

This book follows the modified Hepburn system of romanization in the transliteration of Japanese words. Macrons have been omitted in the case of common place names, such as Tokyo.

I follow Japanese convention by listing family names before personal names. The one exception to this is when I discuss the writer Hiromi Ito, who has expressed a desire to have her name written with personal name first and family name last and without a macron over the letter o in her last name when being discussed in English. I have honored her wishes.

All translations from Japanese into English are my own, except where otherwise stated explicitly.