Luke
Perhaps if you'd sent an e-mail in perfect Japanese you'd have got a better response in Japanese that you could have translated!
If you read any of the translated Japanese publications or spend any time in communication with the Japanese then you will find that their 'expressions' can sometimes be 'amusing'.
'he was sorry that my attention was wasted on that particular aspect of the book' - sounds fair enough, the guy's apologising for wasting your time with an incorrect picture!
Mark