This is collection of Japan-oriented essays and fiction that once were published on the Internet between 1998 and 2004 and vanished with the demise of online journals and webpages. Thet essays are "In the Shadow of His Ancestors" [Review of Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan. By Herbert P. Bix.], "Is There Depleted Uranium in Japan's Future?" [with Jens Wilkinson], "Slapstick on the Precipice: The Ascent of Koizumi Junichiro" and "September 11, 2001: When the World Changed for the Worst..." The short stories are: "Burned," "Bulldozer" and "Betrayals." "Bulldozer" wow a Million Writers award from "storySouth" as one of the top short stories of 2004. Save for minor corrections, all the essays appear as published. The short stories received minor revisions. All the essays were originally published in "New Observer" (Tokyo).