[1] He was employed by the government of Meiji period Japan as a foreign advisor (o-yatoi gaikokujin), primarily to build lighthouses.

Over a period of seven and a half years he designed and supervised the building of 26 Japanese lighthouses in the Western style, which became known as Brunton's "children".

Brunton was sent from Edinburgh in August 1868 to head the project after being recommended to the Japanese government by the Stevensons, despite the fact that he had no experience in lighthouse building at all.

On his return he first set up in Glasgow for Young's Paraffin Oil, before moving to south London in 1881 making architectural plasterwork, where he remained until his death.

The former, containing the text (with some modified spellings) as edited by William Elliot Griffis at the turn of the twentieth century, contains plates with photos and illustrations.

In his memoir, Brunton describes in some detail the burial of Frank Toovey Lake, a midshipman who was sailing with him on HMS Manilla when he was making his first survey of locations to erect the lighthouses.

[8] His high regard for the care that the islanders gave to the grave was, as he admitted in his book, in contrast to his general impression of the Japanese.