Dorothy Bouchier was born in Yokohama, Japan, of an English father and American mother. During the Second World War she studied composition with Darius Milhaud at Mills College, California. After three years in London with the BBC Japanese Service, she returned to Tokyo in 1949 to work at the British Embassy and British Council before deciding in 1956 to devote her talents full-time to bridging East and West with both music and words. She translated this book at the special request of Princess Chichibu. Her many books and translations include The Japanese Crane: Bird of Happiness, A Haiku Journey - Basho's 'Narrow Road to a Far Province', Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window, and most recently has edited her husband's (Sir Cecil Bouchier) memoir Spitfires in Japan.