In 1997, American writer Alex Kerr moved from Kyoto, Japan, to Bangkok. He had spent part of his childhood and much of his adult life in Japan, and carved out a niche as a cultural entrepreneur and interpreter of Japan to the West.
He launched projects of heritage conservation that served as examples for others and sometimes made some money. He wrote "Lost Japan," celebrating traditional Japan, "Dogs and Demons," ranting at Japan's destruction by modernity, and "Another Kyoto," leading the curious through the remains of Japan's former capital like visitors to a remote planet.
