Lafcadio Hearn was one of the earliest foreign writers to publish stories and essays about Japan in English. Arriving in 1890, he taught English literature and began publishing books on Japan in 1894, soon becoming known as the most perceptive interpreter of all things Japanese to the West. His books on Japan include Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan, Kwaidan and In Ghostly Japan.

Patricia Welch is a professor of Japanese and Comparative Literature in the Department of Comparative Comparative Literature, Languages, and Linguistics at Hofstra University.