Well, why did you eat that old paper in the first place?

Tried to resist, honest, but it just looked so good. Also, it turned into the seed of my ultimately aborted dissertation.

I just mean, wrt Meijish Japan, that over the course of time you've gone into a lot of unfamiliar areas that themselves constitute Neat Stuff (and scholarship, on your part). I could see weaving those into some sort of "snapshots of Meiji Japan" book (or coffee table book?), if you were interested in doing so. Wasn't thinking manga-related at all, actually.