Apparently, as a child I used to disappear into my bedroom for hours on end to write stories. As far as I know, none of these stories survive now but suggest that since I was able to, I've been writing. I started taking things a little more seriously with a school magazine at 11 and began writing song lyrics at 16. At college in Cardiff, I helped start a magazine and worked as their Music Editor. After graduating from university, I worked in a couple of Brighton bookshops - an immersion in word worlds. Moving to Japan, my writing really took off and I wrote extensively for several international publications. My first cover feature came in 2006 with a monthly column in another magazine the following year. I was also selected to write the preface for an anthology of Tokyo-based expatriate writers. After returning to the UK in 2008 with a large archive of material from my experiences, I produced and self-published a book - 'Japan From The Inside', bringing together my photographs and writings from that period. I mostly write about the following areas: music, travel, peace, Japan, technology, copyright, other global issues - and am usually open to commissions. My collected writings (those of a high enough standard) can be found on a blog, accessible through the widget on the left. The rest of this page profiles my book projects and examples of more successful feature articles. |
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BOOKS
'Japan From The Inside' (2008)
'Japan From The Inside' is my first full book project and is a collection that profiles my extensive archives of writings and photographs from my period of living and working in Tokyo. It reflects an outsiders view of an often misunderstood place and culture. Japan is a country steeped in tradition yet eye-poppingly
modern at the same time. With this book, you can journey into a land of superlatives and experience the world's biggest city, its busiest train station,
a city's recovery from the first atomic bomb, or where the planet's longest life
expectancies are. Purchase or view preview from blurb.com. 238 pages. Available in hard and soft cover. |
 | 'Jungle Crows' (2007)
I topped off my final full year in Tokyo with an album release with my band and my first book appearance. Following a couple of readings at Ben's Cafe, I was asked to contribute to an expatriate anthology. The editor picked 'My Life And Bushido Ghosts' as the preface to the collection, which can be read in full here. 'Jungle Crows sheds light on what's been going on in English ex-pat fiction and poetry...in recent years, and in dark and light places in the greater Tokyo area.' (from Amazon.com) |
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ARTICLES
 | 'The Magic Bus Musical Mystery Tour' (2006)
Following a review I wrote of the inaugural Reggae Snow Splash in the Japan Alps, I was commissioned to write a cover feature for Outdoor Japan (OJ) magazine - an overview of Japan's summer music festivals. The original piece can be read by clicking on the OJ cover. Further background on the article is here. |
 | 'Revolution # 9' (2006) Having founded a peace charity during my time in Japan, my research led me to learn a lot about the Japanese peace movement and provided a different perspective on WWII. I wrote this piece in defence of the renowned Article 9 in their national constitution, which appeared in an edition of the Canadian magazine 'Peace'. Read it by clicking on the Peace cover or find a fuller version here. |
 | 'Happy Accidents And Following Your Nose' (2004) My first professional writing gig in Japan came from bumping into the editor of a series of travel guides, having stumbled across a tiny island in subtropical Okinawa. I visited the islands a second time at the invitation of 'Okinawa Index' and also modelled for one of their guides. Click on the cover to order the guide or here to read the original article. |
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