Great Cities: The stories behind the world’s most fascinating places

Great Cities (DK; 2021) is a full-color reference/coffee table book, for which I contributed entries on Tokyo and Kyoto and also consulted on image selections.

Best Day Walks Japan

For the first edition of Best Day Walks Japan (2021), part of a new series for Lonely Planet, I wrote entries for 16 of my favorites walks and hikes in the greater Tokyo area and in Tohoku (the northern section of Japan’s main island, Honshu). Each entry includes detailed trail info, including potentially tricky parts, noteworthy view points/photo spots, and recommendations for post-walk meals and hot springs.

From the Source Japan

From the Source Japan (Lonely Planet; 2016) is a cookbook with 60 recipes sourced from restaurants, inns, and home cooks across Japan, all of which/whom are credited and centered. Each recipe is accompanied by a feature story, covering the origin of the dish and its regional significance and the person behind the recipe. I worked on the chapters covering Tokyo, Tohoku, and Hokkaido. What I love about this book is that it showcases the scope of Japanese cuisine, the dishes that carry the greatest meaning for people around the country, and the people who have spent lifetimes (and sometimes generations) perfecting these recipes.

I was involved in all stages of the book, from planning through recipe testing, along with my co-authors, Tienlon Ho and Ippo Nakahara. Junichi Miyazaki shot the gorgeous photos that accompany the spreads.

Travel Guides

I’ve been working as a freelance author for the travel guide publisher Lonely Planet since 2010. Lonely Planet is the world's leading publisher of travel guides; Lonely Planet's Japan is the top selling guidebook to Japan in multiple markets and one of the top ten most important titles for Lonely Planet. Guidebook work requires extensive, independent, on the ground research as well as time and budget management. Lonely Planet authors never take freebies or accept press trips.

For Lonely Planet's current guidebook to Japan (published in 2019), I researched and wrote the chapters on Tokyo and Kansai.

For each edition of Japan, which is updated every other year, I cover one or two regions (along with a team of 8–10 other writers). In addition to Tokyo (which I regularly cover), I have spent months on the road researching Kansai, Tohoku, and Hokkaido, which means going to every single place that winds up in the guidebook – from art galleries to mountain lodges; checking out new openings; and conducting interviews with locals, sometimes on the fly. I also co-write the Tokyo guide (with Simon Richmond), and have contributed to past editions of Lonely Planet guides to China (2016; Hainan, Anhui, and Zhejiang provinces) and Korea (2015; Jeollanam, Jeollabuk and Chungcheongnam provinces). Authors are the first link in a long chain, which means meeting deadlines is crucial; on the rare occasion when I know I will not be able meet a deadline, I communicate this upfront and as early as possible.

In addition, I’ve worked on the following Lonely Planet titles: Secret City: The Insider's Guide to the World's Coolest Neighbourhoods (2020); Amazing Train Journeys (2018); Global Coffee Tour (2018); Cultural Trails (2017); and Food Trails (2016). I have also contributed content to lonelyplanet.com and LP’s social media channels and have served as a mentor to new authors.

I get a small commission for purchases made through links on this page (and so do indie bookstores, through bookshop.org).