Samuel E. Martin is one of the leading authorities on Japanese and Korean language and the author of numerous books including A Reference Grammar of Japanese, A Reference Grammar of Korean, Essential Japanese, Basic Japanese Conversation Dictionary, and Easy Japanese. Fred Perry has a BA (History) from Yale University as well as an MBA from St. Sophia University, Tokyo (1984). He arrived in Japan in 1956, and continues to live there today. He has worked as a market researcher and consultant. Traveling throughout Japan as part of his job has provided the opportunity to learn about local dialects spoken in different parts of the country.