Sarumaru Genshi-ko is a both detective fiction and a historical novel in which the protagonist mentally travels in time under the influence of medications and, in a science-fiction style twist, amalgamates with the mind of Shinobu Orikuchi and solves crimes in Orikuchi's time as well as unravelling the mystery of the Heian-era iroha and the relationship of the poets Sarumaru no Taifu and Kakinomoto no Hitomaro.
Recently he has turned his attention outside of Japanese history and has released books such as a series of “intensive courses” on the religions of Buddhism, Shintoism, Confucianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
[2] After the Chuo Gishi Kai, a group dedicated to studying the 47 ronin, wrote a detailed and scathing criticism of one volume in his Gyakusetsu no Nihonshi subtitled “The Mystery of Chushingura”, it became clear that Izawa was not at all able to read old Japanese documents.
In a 12 December 2007 column for the magazine SAPIO he attacked Kenzaburō Ōe’s 1970 essay Okinawa Note but when quoting similar criticism by Ayako Sono from a 28 November column in the same magazine he conspicuously fixated on Sono’s infamous misreading[4] by swapping her use of kyokai (巨魁 meaning ringleader) with the correct kyokai (巨塊 meaning colossal mass).
on Yomiuri TV and "Koko ga Hen da yo Nihonjin" on TBS, and is the Monday commentator on "Yoshida Terumi Soko daiji na Koto" on NCB.
He even appeared on "Hikari Ota's If I Were Prime Minister... Secretary Tanaka" in which he analyzed the Japanese people's religious outlook and belief in kotodama and a lively debate ensued based on his cherished theories.
In January 2012 he went to work at the headquarters of the Chūkyō Dokuritsu Senryaku Honbu which seeks to abolish Aichi Prefecture and elevate Nagoya to metropolis-level status as Tokyo already is.