Did you know it was Japan culture day on Tuesday 3 November 2026? Nihon bunka no hi is a national celebration to raise awareness of Japanese culture that is primarily celebrated in Japan, but also for former ex-pats who lived in Japan like my hubby and I.
I lived in Japan for four years, and the experience shaped my fiction. Even though my life in Tottori, a small town on the Northwest coast, was positive and amazing (including meeting my husband, a fellow English teacher, learning to speak Japanese and taking the Level 3 proficiency test at Kobe University) as a writer of horror and psychological fiction, I prefer my stories to take a darker course of events. On occasion readers have asked if my psychological fiction series set in Japan – The Buddha’s Bone and The Wabi-sabi Doll – is inspired by anything in real life. Apart from the location in Tottori, the rest is fictional. Poor Kimberly, my main character. If she was a real person, I’m sure she’d give me a smack for what I put her through in those books!
To celebrate, why not check out the duology? The Buddha’s Bone is book one and The Wabi-sabi Doll is book two. You can read them in sequence, or individually as standalones.
