“One of my most memorable trips was to Kagoshima in the deep south of Japan, where I soaked in a hot spring on a live volcano.” The author and presenter lived in Japan for five years and spent six months in the geisha community of Miyagawa-cho in Kyoto. She is the author of Madame Sadayakko: the Geisha Who Seduced the West. Her latest novel is the The Samurai’s Daughter.