The new book is a two-timeline tale, with one thread taking place in the samurai era, and the other unspooling in modern-day Tokyo, where two women from opposite sides of the globe discover that both their futures depend on possessing a cultural treasure that’s been missing since before they were born, but neither can get her hands on it without the other.
But the places in the book are based on real stuff that still exists in Japan today. Here are a few of them!
Those of you who have been joining me here and on my Tokyo travel blog, The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had will recognize all kinds of stuff in the book, because all that time you thought I was just franting about town, I was actually doing Serious Book Research! (Okay, also some franting.)
But check these out:
You recognize Kappabashi, right? The kitchenware district, where you can make your own plastic food? The shop on the left actually says “Okuda” across the top, and that building is what inspired me to give Nori’s family that name too. (The interior of her family’s shop is more like the one to the right, though)
And do you remember this crazy hollow gingko tree at the shrine near where I live in Tokyo? It gets a place in the spotlight too. This shot is looking straight up inside the trunk, and even though it looks like just a shell of bark with branches, it still spouts a boatload of bright green leaves every spring
And you know how I love the Nihon Minka-en, that park filled with old-fashioned farmhouses that’s about an hour outside of Tokyo? They furnished some excellent fodder for the Edo Era bits that happen at the potter’s house and kiln in rural Japan
This is Hikone Castle, not Yodo Castle (which has sadly been reduced to its stone footings), but they would have looked very similar. The room on the right actually belonged to a very high-ranking samurai in Kanagawa, but it was the inspiration for the audience room where Lord Inaba receives Saburo, the poet
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Last Tea Bowl Thiefwas chosen as an Editor’s Pick for Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense on Amazon
For three hundred years, a missing tea bowl passes from one fortune-seeker to the next, changing the lives of all who possess it…read more
“A fascinating mix of history and mystery.” —Booklist
It’s the best kept secret in (or around) Tokyo, don’t you think? Honestly, why do travel planners send people to these remote towns in Western Japan to see the farmhouses, when there are such excellent ones so close to Tokyo? Plus, the “tanuki crossing” sign you pass while from the train station never fails to delight me.
I don’t remember the tanuki but the park is a delight. I love that you can go inside the houses and really feel (and smell!) what it was like to live in them. I’m glad it’s a well kept secret, really. Never have to deal with crowds!
I can’t wait to read your new book. Just ordered it. It might be a while before I can read it. But soon, I hope!
My two copies were on my doorstep this morning. What a nice start to the day. I am just finishing Tana French’s latest and yours is on top the pile. Can’t wait. Congratulations my dear. Diane ❌🍁⭕️👩🌾
You ordered TWO copies? BEST FRIEND AWARD. heh. And I just finished the new Tana French too. Would be curious what you thought! I’m sooo looking forward to the day when we can meet f2f again and talk books, Japan, vegetables and all.
I read your latest book Last Tea Bowl Thief. It was very entertaining and excellent with good details with great writing style. Keep up marvelous work in your novels. May luck of Ireland be with you always. Similar to Tokyo, Dublin is huge with winding streets, celtic styled buildings and misty villages that echo days of long ago when Eire was great. Eire’s sister homeland lies across the Celtic seas where Scotland’s Edinburgh sings of clans and giants. You are very gifted storyteller and the blood of bards bless you to write more stories. Saint Katherine blesses you always. Evelyn Marianne Ferguson-Thibodeaux, Lafayette Louisiana.
Evelyn, thank you so much for writing all the kind words that every writer longs to hear! You are the sweetest, to take the time to send such heartfelt blessings and bring such a big smile to my face this morning. Dublin is indeed the birthplace of some of the world’s great stories (and storytellers!) and Scotland, as well, so I am honored you’d mention me in the same paragraph with them. Wishing you and yours all good things in the new year, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading the book and enjoying it so much!
Only In Japan 
Of course you like Minka-en. It’s one of my favorite places, too. If we’re ever both in town at the same time again, I will meet you there.
It’s the best kept secret in (or around) Tokyo, don’t you think? Honestly, why do travel planners send people to these remote towns in Western Japan to see the farmhouses, when there are such excellent ones so close to Tokyo? Plus, the “tanuki crossing” sign you pass while from the train station never fails to delight me.
I don’t remember the tanuki but the park is a delight. I love that you can go inside the houses and really feel (and smell!) what it was like to live in them. I’m glad it’s a well kept secret, really. Never have to deal with crowds!
I can’t wait to read your new book. Just ordered it. It might be a while before I can read it. But soon, I hope!
Oh, sweet friend, thank you for ordering, and I hope that you’re feeling up to reading again soon. Meanwhile, please accept a remote hug from me!
Hugs back! 🤗
My two copies were on my doorstep this morning. What a nice start to the day. I am just finishing Tana French’s latest and yours is on top the pile. Can’t wait. Congratulations my dear. Diane ❌🍁⭕️👩🌾
Sent from my iPhone
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You ordered TWO copies? BEST FRIEND AWARD. heh. And I just finished the new Tana French too. Would be curious what you thought! I’m sooo looking forward to the day when we can meet f2f again and talk books, Japan, vegetables and all.
I read your latest book Last Tea Bowl Thief. It was very entertaining and excellent with good details with great writing style. Keep up marvelous work in your novels. May luck of Ireland be with you always. Similar to Tokyo, Dublin is huge with winding streets, celtic styled buildings and misty villages that echo days of long ago when Eire was great. Eire’s sister homeland lies across the Celtic seas where Scotland’s Edinburgh sings of clans and giants. You are very gifted storyteller and the blood of bards bless you to write more stories. Saint Katherine blesses you always. Evelyn Marianne Ferguson-Thibodeaux, Lafayette Louisiana.
Evelyn, thank you so much for writing all the kind words that every writer longs to hear! You are the sweetest, to take the time to send such heartfelt blessings and bring such a big smile to my face this morning. Dublin is indeed the birthplace of some of the world’s great stories (and storytellers!) and Scotland, as well, so I am honored you’d mention me in the same paragraph with them. Wishing you and yours all good things in the new year, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading the book and enjoying it so much!