In October 1991 I ventured east from the UK to live in Tokyo - my plan was to take up a job teaching English to locals then move on a few months later to travel Asia. However, before the end of the year, I had gained work as an editor and writer for Nikkei News Bulletin and Tokyo Journal and had started to study Japanese. I ended up staying in the country until 1994.
I have since returned to Japan frequently, travelling from snow-bound Hokkaido to sun-kissed Okinawa to research travel guidebooks and features. In 1997, I was commissioned to co-author the first editions The Rough Guide to Japan and The Rough Guide to Tokyo; the Japan guide won the Travelex Guidebook of the Year in 2000. In 2009 I wrote the Rough Guide to Anime and was a contributing writer to the Rough Guide to Manga.
In the years since my personal Japan library has expanded to include titles for Insight Guies, DK Eyewitness and Lonely Planet, where I am one of the main authors of their Tokyo guides and a contributor to the Japan guides.