Travel Writing

Travel Books

• My first book, Intrepid Japan, combines narrative non-fiction travel stories with interviews, articles on Japanese art and culture, and recommendations for places to visit and things to do.

• I wrote the updated Frommer’s Japan, a traditional guidebook, the type travelers will have tucked under their arms or stuffed into their backpacks, with information on major cities, national parks, off-beat destinations, restaurants, hotels, transport, money-saving tips, and more.

Narrative Non-Fiction Articles

• Spirituality Without Religion on the Kumano Kodo

• Finding Solace in a Tokyo Bookshop

• Dejima: Walking in the Footsteps of Jacob de Zoet

• Lafcadio Hearn’s Matsue: The Chief City of the Province of the Gods

• Hiking Shimane Prefecture’s Tachikue Gorge

• Finding the Heart of Japan in Yakushima

• Nageiredo Temple: Hiking to Japan’s Most Dangerous National Treasure

Online Travel Guides

• A guide to visiting Kyoto’s Nishiki Market

• Frommer’s Best Places to Go in 2025

• Japan Travel: 48 Hours in Tokyo

• Where to Find the Best Guinness in and Around Tokyo

• Best Japan Road Trips

• Best Islands to Visit in Japan

• To Understand Japanese Cuisine, Start With Kaiseki and Shojin Ryori

• Visiting Japan’s Art Islands

• 24 Hours at the 2019 Setouchi Triennale

• Things to Know Before Traveling to Belfast

• Belfast Neighborhoods Guide

Reportage & Op-eds

• Is Japan Really Open to Tourists?

• Japan Ranks Both High and Low on Expat Surveys: Breaking Down Recent Results

• Japan’s travel ban spells anguish for foreigners, businesses

• Japan’s struggling tourism sector despairs at lack of COVID exit

• Japan is swamped with tourists. Now visitors are going off the beaten track

• Stomach grumbles: Japan’s eateries catch heat over higher tourist prices

• How Does the Japan Tourism Industry Rebound?

• Rethinking Japan’s Tourism Policy

• One tour company’s mission to ‘revive a small corner of Japan’

• Shochu: The Lifeblood of Kagoshima