China!
May 16, 2016(1)Lucky me: I get to spend most of the spring researching three chapter's for the next edition of Lonely Planet China. I'll be visiting "China's...Read MoreTotal Guide: Japan
May 15, 2016(1)I worked on this 24-page spread (yes, 24 pages!) on Japan for the Sunday Times Travel Magazine May issue....Read MoreElsewhere: Tokyo, Japan
April 15, 2016(1)Australian news site nine has launched a new travel website, called Elsewhere (nice name, right?). I'll be contributing stories from Tokyo and Japan...Read More
Lonely Planet Korea
March 3, 2016(1)Super excited to see my first guidebook on a destination that isn't Japan in print! For this edition of the Korea guide I covered the provinces in the...Read More
Hokkaido Road Trip!
January 11, 2016(1)"With its wide-open spaces, national parks, active volcanoes, forests of silvery beech, forlorn coastlines and remote fishing towns, Hokkaidō is ideal...Read MoreJapan on a budget
November 12, 2015(1)Seriously people, there has never been a better time to visit Japan, with the yen as low as it is. Some tips to stretch your money even further, in...Read More
From the Source
October 8, 2015(2)Lonely Planet started a new series of cookbooks, called From the Source. The idea is to capture a place through its food, and include recipes from the...Read More
Lonely Planet Pocket Tokyo
October 5, 2015(0)For this pocket-sized (well, purse-sized) guide, I cherry-picked all the absolute must-sees from the larger Tokyo city guide. The suggestions are...Read More
Lonely Planet Tokyo
October 5, 2015(0)I co-authored this with the amazing, indefatigable Simon Richmond. This time I covered the western side of the city (Shinjuku, Shibuya, Harajuku,...Read More
Lonely Planet Japan
October 5, 2015(0)904 pages! Bigger than the last edition. I updated the Tokyo chapter for this one. Included: a walking tour of the historic Yanaka district, a picture...Read More
Lonely Planet Discover Japan
October 4, 2015(0)This is a full-color greatest hits of Japan guide. Select excerpts from my most recent update of the Tokyo chapter in the full Japan guide appear...Read MoreWagyu: Processing pampered cows at Tokyo’s last major slaughterhouse
August 7, 2015(0)"Wagyu literally translates as 'Japanese beef,' but that translation doesn’t quite do it justice. It’s a word that calls to mind images of rural...Read MoreFirst-time jjimjilbang: how to visit a Korean bathhouse
August 5, 2015(0)"Traditional bathhouses are an essential part of contemporary Korean culture. Literally 'heated rooms', these jjimjilbang (찜질방) are where locals come...Read More48 Hours in Jeonju: Korea’s foodie capital
May 5, 2015(0)"Jeonju is one of South Korea's top destinations, though it remains under the radar for international travellers. The largest city in the country's...Read MoreAn Ode to Tokyo’s Iconic Okura
January 6, 2015(0)"In a city like Tokyo, there is something particularly decadent about a building that sprawls horizontally as the Hotel Okura does. It’s such a...Read MorePassport: gourmet on the go in Tokyo
September 14, 2014(0)A not too horrible (I hope) radio interview with ABC Australia about Tokyo’s “standing restaurant” dining trend....Read MoreRediscovering Lost Tokyo
July 19, 2014(0)"If woodblock prints are to be believed, the metropolis was once awash in greens and blues. Reedy riverbanks, grassy hillocks and marshes draped with...Read MoreGhostly footprints of the ‘modern girl’ along Kamakura’s coastline
June 14, 2014(0)"There’s a scene in Junichiro Tanizaki’s serialized novel Naomi (originally titled A Fool’s Love) from 1924 where the besotted protagonist, Joji,...Read MoreBill Granger’s reciprocal love affair with Tokyo eating
April 25, 2014(0)“Over the past few years, several American-style pancake joints — Eggs n’ Things and Cafe Kaila, for example — have washed up on Tokyo’s shores. Now,...Read MoreIn the Raw
April 6, 2014(0)"Sushi in Tokyo begins before dawn. Throughout the night, thousands of trucks make their way down center-city streets to the Tokyo Metropolitan...Read MoreTop 10 foods to try in Japan
November 6, 2013(0)"Literally 'grilled as you like,' okonomiyaki is Japanese comfort food at its best, and a clear violation of the typical refined image of Japanese...Read More
Lonely Planet Pocket Tokyo
October 5, 2013(0)This is the new incarnation of LP's Explore series, designed for short city stays. I was skeptical at first, that I could cover all of Tokyo properly...Read More
Lonely Planet Japan
October 5, 2013(0)This is the hardest assignment I've ever had. I got to update the Tokyo chapter, which was fun; I also went up to Tohoku (northeast Japan) to update...Read MoreBite into the journals of a Japanese burger critic
March 8, 2013(0)"Many Japanese foodies are enamored with the hamburger, in much the same way that their American counterparts are often besotted with ramen. The...Read MoreRecipes for a new life in Japan
December 21, 2012(0)"Nwe Nwe Kyaw arrived in Japan 12 years ago, the wife of a political refugee from Myanmar granted asylum in Japan. In Yangon, she had been a teacher;...Read More
Lonely Planet Tokyo
October 5, 2012(0)I was so excited to get this assignment, my dream assignment — a venue for 10 years accumulated knowledge of Tokyo! I co-authored this guide with Tim...Read MoreSeeing Tokyo along the Yamanote Line
April 12, 2012(0)"Many Tokyoites will tell you that the best way to get to know their city is to travel station by station on the Yamanote Line. This commuter rail...Read MoreTravel in Japan one year after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami
March 12, 2012(0)"One year after Japan's heartbreaking triple-disaster, the country still has a lot more reconstruction ahead of it and some psychological and economic...Read MoreKyoto’s Coffee Culture
March 6, 2012(0)"In a city known for its affinity for tea, owner-run cafes — which take both coffee and the space in which it is consumed very seriously — are...Read MoreA taste of old Japan in a mountain ryokan
February 6, 2012(0)"The Japanese clearly value tradition, yet for one reason or another — fire, natural disaster, the second world war, an enthusiasm for progress —...Read MoreHidden Hakone
February 6, 2012(0)"Hakone is Tokyo's favourite escape. It's a Japanese ideal: a land of onsen (natural hot springs) and jagged, misty mountains. At the centre is calm,...Read More
Happy, from Lonely Planet
December 5, 2011(0)Fun book from Lonely Planet that includes tips to get happy from all over the world. I contributed some ideas from Japan, like writing down your...Read More