Born in Chicago, Patrick Drazen was taught to read before going to kindergarten. Writing took longer to master; his first book, Anime Explosion!, was published in 2002 when he was fifty; A Gathering of Spirits: Japan’s Ghost Story Tradition followed in 2011. In between he was, among other careers, a chauffeur, a legal secretary, and an announcer at Public Radio station WSIU in Carbondale, Illinois.

• AcknowledgmentsChapter 1: Introduction; Why this bookChapter 2: History of Christianity in Japan: It’s ComplicatedChapter 3: Christianity in Japanese Popular Culture through the Lens of Said’s OrientalismChapter 4: Christian References in the Manga of Tezuka OsamuChapter 5: Crucifixion in Manga and Anime: The Good, The Bad and the UnrealChapter 6: The ExorcistsChapter 7: Jinguru Beh! Christmas in Manga and AnimeChapter 8: Christian Weddings in Japan: Just Like In the MoviesChapter 9: ClergyChapter 10: Nuns in Anime/Manga: Sisterhood Is Not So PowerfulChapter 11: Witch Hunter Robin: Love and Fear and a Side-Trip to Barack ObamaChapter 12: Japan’s Most Famous Christian Martyr: Amakusa ShiroChapter 13: Angels and Other MetaphorsChapter 14: The “Not Safe” ChapterAtogaki (Afterword)References

Given that only about one percent of Japanese are said to be Christian, the idea of an entire book on Christianity in Japan's popular culture is not only novel, but provocative. Yet in exploring pop culture perceptions of what is to Japanese a very minority and sometimes mysterious religion, Patrick Drazen sheds new light on much larger issues of cultural adoption, adaptation, and coexistence. Kudos for a fascinating book!