Tokyo Explorer

[Writers Profile]

Ian Priestly - Ian Priestley is a British writer, editor and teacher, who has travelled extensively and now resides in Japan. As well as writing for newspapers and magazines, he is also a published writer of fiction.

Carolyn Todd - Cas is a freelance writer and editor living in Kyoto, Japan, and is originally from Newcastle, UK. Her career started in Italy, where she taught English for 3 years and then began working in the wine industry. She trained as a winemaker, and worked in the US, Italy and Australia. She then came to Kyoto, working as a medical editor and becoming Editor of Sumo Fan Magazine (www.sumofanmag.com), an online magazine devoted to the wonderful world of sumo.

Rob Goss - Originally from the south west of England, Rob is a full-time freelance writer and editor who has been living in Tokyo since 1999. To date his work has appeared in over 20 outlets in six countries in media ranging from guidebooks to consumer magazines and more recently the Web.

He is currently a freelance correspondent for two overseas media outlets, covering financial services in Japan for one and travel/the travel industry for the other. Rob also serves as the assistant editor of a Tokyo-based bilingual magazine and is a regular contributor to several other magazines in Japan and overseas.

Jasmin Ngan - Jasmine Ngan joined the Tokyo Explorer team due to her interest in writing and passion for dining out and trying new foods. She believes in the concept of living to eat, not eating to live. Her favorite types of food are Thai, Indian, Ethiopian, Vietnamese and Caribbean, although she is more than willing to expand her repertoire. Keep in mind, these are not the only types of food she has eaten.

On the non-foodie front, Jasmine came to Japan in August 2006 to teach English which she continues to do to this day. When she is not teaching, writing, or eating, her hobbies are salsa dancing, shopping, photography, reading, spending time with friends, scrapbooking and travelling. Last year, she went to Kyoto and Osaka and this year, she hopes to go to Nikko to see Nikko Edomura-the Ninja park. However, her biggest dream is to go to Thailand due to her fascination with Thai food. That said, she also plans to explore other aspects of Thailand including their beaches, shopping and nightlife.

Enatsu Watanabe - Enatsu Watanabe is the latest addition to the TE fold and brings linguistic skills in Japanese, English and French to the mix. Primarily working on interviews alongside TE Ed, Mark Buckton, Enatsu is now resident just to the north of the Japanese capital in rural Ibaraki.

林 香里 -林 香里 (Yim Hyang-Ri) is Tokyo Explorer’s Korean language and culture specialist.Resident in the Japanese capital for many years, but with several years spent living in Seoul in the 1990s and early 2000s, Hyang-Ri contributes articles of special interest to Korean nationals visiting Japan. Combining an in-depth knowledge and awareness of both Korean and Japanese culture, let Hyang-Ri guide you along the oft beaten tourist track – and sometimes take you off it - courtesy the delightful Korean language.

[Editor profile]

Mark Buckton - Mark Buckton first touched down on Japanese shores in the late winter of 1996/97 with just 18,000 yen in his pocket, a single, outdated guide book to his name, and far too few clothes for the near-blizzard he flew into.

Initially on his way back to his home in the UK after a long holiday spent in Australia upon completion of six years service in the British Royal Air Force that enabled him to travel over much of Europe, Scandinavia, into North America, Turkey and Iraq, he liked what he saw in Japan, saw what he liked, and started putting down roots.

A little over a decade later, Buckton is a long-term resident of northern Tokyo, a professional teacher and sumo columnist for Japan’s only independent English language newspaper – The Japan Times. He is also founder and Editor-in-Chief of the multi-lingual Sumo Fan Magazine; a post in which he is often called upon by global news agencies to comment on Japan’s national sport.

He has long contributed to magazines and newspapers throughout Japan, in Asia, North America and Europe on issues related to Japanese culture, history and sport, and worked with Shochiku Co., Ltd. as part of the English language presentation by the company for trips by prominent Kabuki actors (Ichikawa) Danjuro and (Nakamura) Kanzaburo to Paris, France and New York and Washington D.C. in the USA in 2007.

Originally from north-west England, but now committed to Tokyo and Japan, Buckton enjoys letting work overlap with leisure by studying Japanese history, and attending both sumo and kabuki in a private capacity in his limited ‘off-time.’ He is also currently learning the written form of Hangul – the language of Korea.

[JH Director Profile]

Kiyotaka Maruyama - Born in Tokyo towards the end of the 1970s, Kiyotaka Maruyama is a Tokyoite born and bred.

Following an education in the western suburbs of the sprawling metropolis, he began his career in Internet Marketing, centering his attention primarily on the European, North American and Australian spheres of Internet usage.

In doing so, he became acutely aware of the rising levels of interest overseas regarding the land of his birth, and so, in October of 1996 spread his wings, moved on from Internet Marketing and founded Japan Hopper.

With the goal of increasing further the level of interest in, and knowledge about, Japan, it is Maruyama’s wish that Japan Hopper will fill the gap in online Japan related pages by bringing together the expert knowledge of long-term Japan based expatriates employed as professionals in writing and editing fields in the Japanese capital and beyond, with interactive JH user-centered, experience based input.

Now heading an Omotesando, Tokyo based team of five, including long-term Japan resident and Japan Hopper Editor Mark Buckton, Maruyama is looking to a future in which he Internet serves its original purpose and helps take Tokyo, Japan and the Japanese into homes around the globe.

In his time away from his PC, Maruyama is a prize wining Japanese archer and enjoys traveling around the Pacific Rim as an avid scuba diver.