avatarAlvin T.

Summary

This text is a curated list of writers who write about Japan from an insider's perspective, with a focus on various aspects of Japanese culture, society, and language.

Abstract

The text begins by highlighting the lack of recent and consistent content about Japan on the platform. To address this, the author has curated a list of writers who write about Japan in English, with a focus on those who have intimate knowledge of Japan and Japanese culture. The writers selected cover a range of topics, including language, culture, history, nature, travel, true crime, oddities, detailed place guides, food, health, nutrition, daily life, gender, parenting, education, business, and Japanese language. The author used a specific curation approach to select these writers, considering factors such as consistency in writing about Japan, writing in English, and publication frequency. The list of writers is presented in no particular order, with each writer's key topics highlighted and a sample of their work provided.

Bullet points

  • The author has curated a list of writers who write about Japan in English.
  • The writers selected cover a range of topics related to Japan and Japanese culture.
  • The author used a specific curation approach to select these writers.
  • The list of writers is presented in no particular order, with each writer's key topics highlighted and a sample of their work provided.
  • The author also mentions their own writing topics and encourages readers to subscribe to receive new stories.
  • The author recommends an AI service that provides similar performance to ChatGPT Plus(GPT-4) but at a more cost-effective price.

Curated Reads

Love Japan? Then You Need to Read These Amazing Writers Now

From travel, language, culture, to gender, health, and even true crime, these writers cover a dizzying breadth of topics about Japan.

Chureito Pagoda, with Mount Fuji in the background. (Photo by Tianshu Liu on Unsplash)

Japan.

Mention the country, and a variety of images come to mind: from the ultra-modern neon-overloaded streets to a quieter world filled with ancient temples, shrines, mountains, forests, and hot springs. The Shinkansen “bullet trains” are world-class technology, yet Japanese workplaces continue to use fax machines.

It is perhaps not an exaggeration to say that Japan is a country of paradox, and many people are fascinated by the country. One would imagine this platform to be filled with stories about Japan.

Indeed, I found some popular stories written by people sharing their travel experiences in Japan on this platform. Surprisingly, many of these stories appear to date from before 2017.

These writers also appear to be “one-time” writers who happened to write about Japan, and are probably not even active on the platform any longer. I didn’t find that many writers who consistently write about Japan, on this platform, and certainly not many writers who give deeper cultural insight.

The coronavirus pandemic, and the Japanese border closure certainly haven’t helped to change this situation.

So, I decided to curate my own list of writers who write about Japan from their unique “insider” point-of-view. These are writers who have intimate knowledge of Japan and Japanese culture.

If you love reading about Japan, you can’t afford to miss them.

Curation Approach

I searched for writers writing about Japan, in English. I did this by searching the following tags: Japan, Japanese, Japanese Language, Japanese Culture, Japanese Society, Japanese.

I had to make some difficult choices

  • They had to write mostly in English, even if they sometimes wrote in other languages.
  • I did not select “one-hit wonders.” The writers should demonstrate a consistent focus writing about Japan or on topics related to Japan.
  • I selected writers who have published at least once in 2022. New writers were omitted. But, I expect to update the list periodically, so do add this article to your list.
  • I selected for style and formatting.
  • Writers who had “top writer tags” were privileged although this was not always the case.

I highlight the key topics that the writer focuses on in the following format: [TOPIC] [Writer’s Name]

The List of Writers, in No Particular Order

[Japanese Language, Culture, History, Nature, Travel] Diane Neill Tincher joins us all the way from Kagoshima. She has been living in Japan since 1987!

She regularly shares Japanese traditional stories and tales— one wonders how many books she has pored through — interesting Japanese words that English needs to have, and her day-to-day experience living in Japan. You need to follow her!

Diane is a top writer in Travel.

[True Crime, Oddities] S.A. Ozbourne fills a very interesting — if macabre — niche, because he writes on the topic of True Crime in Japan. On a lighter note, he also writes about the crazy experiences he’s had living in Japan.

S.A. is a top writer in Travel.

[Travel, Detailed Place Guides] Donny Kimball is a Tokyo-based freelance digital marketing consultant who is addicted to exploring the lesser-known sides of Japan. He has put together a massive and extensive list of travel guides to places in Japan that are seriously off-the-beaten-path.

If you want to discover all the unvisited gems in Japan, you need to follow him.

[Food, Health, Nutrition] Kaki Okumura has a big following on Medium. Born in Dallas, raised in New York and Tokyo, she focuses on discovering the health aspects of Japanese culture and wisdom, distilling and imparting that knowledge to a wider audience.

Kaki is a top writer in Health.

[Daily Life, Gender, Parenting, Education] Yuko Tamura is one of few female Japanese writers on Medium giving voice to the problem that women face in Japan. Gender inequality is a big issue in Japan, and Yuko hopes to bring more light to this topic through her writing.

Yuko is a top writer in Feminism.

Her story on finding her voice as a Japanese woman was also featured by Medium on Twitter.

[Business, Culture, Japanese Language] DC Palter is an entrepreneur and angel investor and self-styled sake snob, and the co-author of a book on Kansai-ben (Kansai dialect).

DC writes on a variety of Japanese topics from how to find quality matcha (milled green tea), why Japanese is both easy and difficult, and what he learned about sales from deer. No, seriously!

DC is also a top writer in these topics: Venture Capital, Startup, Entrepreneurship.

Yuko Tamura and DC Palter are also the editors of Japonica Publication, a publication for all everything Japan. The publication is new but growing fast! For more great stories on Japan, don’t forget to bookmark the pub and check in regularly on the Japonica Pub Twitter!

The author writes on a variety of topics. His key topics are Japan, society, culture, modern work, and cryptocurrency, with the occasional fictional story, creative piece, or reflective essay. Discover his most-read stories here.

If these topics interest you, consider subscribing to receive new stories from the author via e-mail.

Japan
Travel
Culture
Reading
Curation
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