Simon Kaner (MA, PhD Cantab, 2004) is Assistant Director of the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures. He is an archaeologist specialising in the prehistory of Japan. Before joining the Sainsbury Institute he was Senior Archaeologist at Cambridgeshire County Council and retains his interest in the management of cultural heritage. A Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London since 2005, he has taught and published on many aspects of East Asian and European archaeology and has undertaken archaeological research in Japan, the UK and elsewhere. His recent publications include The Power of Dogu: ceramic figures from ancient Japan (2009), which accompanies a major exhibition at the British Museum. Other works include Jomon Reflections: Forager Life and Culture in the Prehistoric Japanese Archipelago by Kobayashi Tatsuo (2005) which he adapted and edited with Nakamura Oki. He is also currently completing an edited volume Envisioning Medieval Towns in Japan and Europe, to be published in 2010.