He is the author of Geisha & Maiko of Kyoto: Beauty, Art, & Dance, One Hundred Views of Kyoto, and One Hundred Views of Maiko and Geiko. He is inspired by the poetry of William Blake, the ukiyo-e of Yoshitoshi, film noir and Hong Kong action cinema, and the cities of New York and Kyoto. He has been (in no particular order) a student of literature and religion, a writer and director of two award-winning short films, a professor of English as a Foreign Language, and a builder of Lego castles.