James Davies was born in 1945 in Philadelphia. He graduated from Oberlin College in 1967 and entered graduate school at the University of Washington, only to have a mathematics professor interest him in the game of go. In 1970 he came to Japan, where his go playing has advanced to the amateur 6-dan level.
Besides having been a regular contributor to the magazine Go World, he has written a number of books for Kiseido, among which are:
38 Basic Josekis
Tesuji
Attack and Defense
He currently lives in Fukuoka, Japan.
