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Lesley Downer lived in Japan for nearly fifteen years and speaks fluent Japanese.

She has written many books about the country and its culture, including Geisha: The Secret History of a Vanishing World and Madame Sadayakko: The Geisha Who Seduced the West, and has presented television programmes for Channel 4, the BBC and NHK. She lives in London with her husband, the author Arthur I. Miller, and frequently visits Japan. She is a Canadian citizen.

*Photograph Courtesy of Cara Watts

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