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 I
have always had an enthusiasm for travel and, after teaching in the UK,
the Fiji Islands and in North Queensland where I taught Aboriginal children,
I did a stint in educational publishing before going freelance. I was able
to indulge my other love - of mountain walking - through commissions for
books on Norway, Sweden and Austria, reverting to a bicycle for a book on
Belgium. After books on Europe, like the pull of gravity I have been drawn
backwards and forwards to the Far East. To write Korean Village,
I lived in a remote mountain village in central Korea, and for four books
on Japan I travelled with boots and rucksack, from north to south of the
islands, using youth hostels and local transport, and living for short periods
in Kyushu, where my last two books are based. I always tell children that
everything I put in my books I have experienced firsthand, but I have never
admitted that, misreading the kanji signs, I once lay blissfully
soaking in a superheated communal bath, unaware that I was in the men's
bath until a naked judo team burst in upon me!
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