I spend a lot of time in medieval Japan. Since I’m not in possession of a time machine (more’s the pity) most of that time gets spent in my head, or in books, but last summer I had the chance to spend a night in a ryokan (a traditional Japanese inn) that came as close as I may ever get to the life my ninja detective, Hiro, would have lived on a daily basis. During my research trip to Japan, I spent the night at Ryokan Iwaso on Miyajima, a sacred island off the coast of Hiroshima. Constructed in 1854,
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