Macrons are used in the text to indicate long vowels in Japanese. Very frequently used words in the English text (e.g. han, bugyo, daimyo, shogun, sakoku, Tokaido, bushido) and place names (e.g. Tokyo, Hyogo, Choshu, Hokkaido) are not italicised in the text, and the macron where there is one is not indicated. The policy is not followed rigidly: to make it easier for the reader to read the text, both less frequently used words (e.g. sankin kōtai, kan) and words implying a distinction (e.g. tozama, fudai), are given in italics, and the macron, where there is one, retained. In the case of the Ryukyu (or Ryūkyū) islands, in which English—language practice varies widely, the usage in the text is that the islands are described as the 'Ryukyus', and 'Ryukyu' is used as an adjective (thus, Ryukyu islanders). Macrons are retained for proper names. The softening of consonants in Japanese in certain contexts is followed in the Japanese in the book (thus, ' kaibō gakari' and not ' kaibō kakari') but not in the English if other usages are more common (thus 'Tempō' for 'Tenpō' and 'Deshima' for 'Dejima'). The chronological term kinsei covering seventeenth, eighteenth and part of the nineteenth centuries is translated as 'early modern'.
Japanese names are indicated in the Japanese fashion: surname first and given name following. The names of Japanese and Japanese—Americans writing in English are given in the English word order. For Japanese authors, cited for works in Japanese who also appear in the footnotes as authors of texts in English, the author's name for the English—language book is given in the English style (given name followed by surname). In the bibliography, surnames precede in all cases. To avoid confusion in footnotes, for authors who are cited for both languages (or are translated), for English texts the given name is abbreviated to the first letter of the name. Thus in the footnotes Shinbō Hiroshi, elsewhere the author of texts in Japanese, appears as H. Shinbō when his name appears before an English—language text. In a very small number of cases, where confusion could arise and where given name and surname are both cited the surname has been put in capitals. In Japanese the given name is often widely
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