His research focuses on the history and material culture of the long sixteenth century (the shift from medieval to early modern) in Japan. He is particularly interested in the history of the samurai, the history of tea culture, the history of ceramics, and the methodology of material culture studies. His publications include Japanese Tea Culture: Art, History, and Practice (Routledge, 2003), Handmade Culture: Raku Potters, Patrons, and Tea Practitioners in Japan (Hawaii, 2005), and (Hawaii, 2007, co-edited with Jan Mrazek). His two new books in 2016 are Spectacular Accumulation: Material Culture, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and Samurai Sociability (Hawaii, 2016) and Kyoto Visual Culture in the Early Edo and Meiji Periods: The Arts of Reinvention (Routledge, 2016, co-edited with Alice Tseng).