Thomas Lockley, a Japan-based British professor at Nihon University College of Law in Tokyo, is close to finishing years of comprehensive research on the largely forgotten tale of the first Japanese people to visit England. In a 4 June story in The Mainichi, Lockley expressed how important the Japanese were to the English in 1589. These visitors made Japan “real” and not just the talk of dreamers. Lockley said his work has attracted interest from potential publishers.