Sado: Japan's Island in Exile

Given the choice, no-one ever went to Sado. For more than a thousand years, this island in the Sea of Japan was a place of exile for the deposed, disgraced or just plain distrusted - ex-emperors, aristocrats, poets, priests and convicted criminals alike. This book rediscovers the exiles' island, explores the truth about its notorious gold mine, tracks down a vanishing badger cult, and drops in on the home of super-drummer band Kodo.
Along the way, it paints a vivid picture of one of Japan's most intriguing backwaters, now emerging from a long exile of its own.